The Day of Realization
by Cassandra Y
Summary: [AVP Fic] An Ooman female is saved by a Yautja and finds out that she is a Pyode Amedha and Queen Kainde Amedha Hybrid. She is accepted by the Yautja after ridding the ship of Kainde Amedha and saving other Yautja . Summery does this story no justice. R
1. Chapter 1 A

Cass: Ok. This is my first attempt at writing an AVP fanfiction. I've always been obsessed with the Alien movies and I loved the predator movies as well. I waited with baited breath for an AVP type movie to come out. After reading 'The enemy of my enemy' and 'Is my friend' by Tashilover, I was inspired to write one! Please read and review!

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Quick definitions and Pronunciations:

**Aleris**: Uh-ler-is

**Hiram**: Here-ahm

**Xerxes**: Zer-zes

**Yautja**: Predator word for a Predator

**Ooman**: Yautja word for Human

**Pyode Amedha**: 'Soft meat'; Referring to Humans

**Kainde Amedha**: 'Hard meat'; Referring to the Aliens

**Chapter 1**

It was nothing more than a dull day. It was High School, though, so one has come to expect it. But this was ridiculous.

Aleris sat in her US History class, trying desperately to listen to the little Chinese man teaching them about railroads or something. She quietly tapped her fingernails against the desk in an effort to stay awake. She kept her long brown hair in her face so he couldn't see her float between consciousness and unconsciousness.

She told herself to stay awake. If she fell asleep in this class again, she would be sent to the office and probably taken out of the class. This teacher hated her that much. She said her name over and over again in her head. God she hated her name. Aleris. So many people made fun of her for it. Her parents must have been on acid when they named her or were just plain stupid.

Finally! The teacher gave them the rest of the period to themselves.

Aleris quickly got up a snatched the only blue hall pass her teacher had. She quickly exited the noisy room and into the dead quiet hallway. Pausing just outside the door, she sighed sharply and took her time to walk down three doors to the drinking fountain.

A hand grabbed her arm and jerked her back. She turned, expecting a friend or teacher being funny with her. The people at her High School did that. Everyone knew her and everyone enjoyed yanking her chain. The one who had grabbed her was no such person.

A tall, scraggly man stood before her. Wearing all black and a black face mask, he startled Aleris. He looked like one of those guys that takes over a school to put themselves higher in fame so a celebrity will see them and fall in love with them. What is the name for that? Aleris did not believe that any man would be stupid enough to hold an entire school hostage.

Aleris tried to pull her arm away from the indistinguishable person. The man squeezed her arm tighter and pulled her close to him. With his free hand, he held a knife to her throat. He spoke in a low, demanding voice.

"Do as I say and you might live"

The man pulled her harshly further down the hallway. He threw her into an empty classroom and closed the door. Aleris tried to get the door open, but the man had done something to the lock, so it remained closed. She looked around the room she was now in.

A few desks and chairs thrown about in various ways. A book shelf was over turned and the books sprayed out from it. Aleris didn't like this sight too much. This was bad. Terrorists had taken over the school and ransacked this room and probably placed all the students that were here somewhere else. But why did they put her in here alone?

She glanced back to the door. She knew it was locked, so she wasn't even going to try and open it. That was her philosophy in life. If it doesn't work in the movies, then it sure as hell ain't going to work for you.

She walked over to the window just behind the teachers' desk. The window overlooked the student parking lot. Most of the cars were nice and new.

Aleris stared out the window. She saw students running out into the parking lot. It was only Third period. Her eyes shifted sharply down below her.

Black…things…were running after the students. Now, these students were running quite fast, but these black blurs were running faster than lightning. The students didn't stand a chance. They were picked off, one by one. Blood sprayed onto nearby cars every time one student was caught.

Aleris didn't care about this much. She was one of those outsider gothic people that suffered from Depression. Just nice enough to be cordial with people, but not enough to mean it. At the present time, she was enjoying the show.

Examining the black monsters chasing and killing the students, she arrived to the conclusion that they were an advanced form of wingless dragon that, until now, was in a dormant state under or near the school. Aleris laughed out loud. She was trying to keep her mind off her present situation.

She glanced over and saw something rather odd. The wall moved. It didn't move like it was her imagination. It was like water distorted the image of the wall. She cocked her head as she pondered this. That was before a figure presented itself to her.

It appeared in electric patches before coming together into one. It was a tall humanoid figure that was very muscular. The first thing that came to Aleris when she saw it was 'Seven foot Jamaican with a cool mask'.

She didn't move any, but her heart began to pound a little. What was that thing? Was it a mutated chameleon?

The Jamaican either didn't see Aleris or didn't care. He looked down at his wrist and flipped open something. Aleris figured it was a minicomputer, seeing it could cloak or something like it. Unless it WAS a chameleon. Then it was probably some cool wrist guard that made the Jamaican look smart or something.

Aleris looked back to the bodies of her fellow students. She couldn't help but chuckle. This was exactly how it was in the movies.

Hiram looked down at his computer. Something had happened here and it was anything but good. The Kainde Amedha had somehow gotten to this planet. But that wasn't all. It was a little too convenient that the Kainde Amedha were here in this building. The students were perfect for the underlings to attack to and lay their eggs. Something was up and he knew it.

Hiram was busy trying to figure out just how many Kainde Amedha were here. Then he heard it. He heard a chuckle. He looked up and saw a one of the Oomans not 10 feet from him.

This was unexpected. Hiram was originally here for observing the Ooman specie. He was disappointed to find he would not be studying this specie, but making sure the specie was still there in the future to study. But right there in front of him was a Ooman. And it didn't even run away from him!

This Ooman was female. He could tell from the facial features and the shape of the body. Short in height compared to him, but that was normal for the specie. He cocked his head slightly when he realized that she was not afraid of him. Her heart pounding slightly faster than normal, but that was it.

His computer began beeping and he tore his gaze from her. It had calculated the number of kainde amedha. Seven hundred and fifty two…give or take a dozen. This was very bad for Hiram.

He was alone and help would not arrive for some time. About one Earth week.

Aleris heard some sort of angry or frustrated growl come from the mutated…Jamaican…Chameleon…Thing. She picked up the rolling teachers' chair and set it up right. She sat down and brought her feet onto the teachers' desk. There was a strong possibility that she was going to die here. And if she was going to die, she was going to be comfortable for it.

Hiram looked back to the Ooman female, who was now sitting with her feet up. She was looking at him, as if waiting for something. He relaxed and slowly walked over to her.

He didn't want to startle or scare her. He wanted so badly to study her, to touch her.

Aleris watched this thing carefully. She came to two conclusions. Either he was coming to kill her or rape her. Oh god, she hoped it was the first one.

A loud bang sounded through the silent room. Hiram shot his head over to the door. A Kainde Amedha was trying to get in. The scratching was distinct. The noise stopped as soon as it had started. Aleris got up from the chair and slowly walked over to the door.

Hiram watched her, observing her every move. The way her hips moved and how carefully she placed her feet. It was fascinating. Ooman females were so graceful.

Aleris looked out the window in the door, seeing what was out there. Nothing. Whatever was out there was gone now. Aleris began to walk back to the desk, but stopped halfway.

The Jamaican was looking at her. But not just looking. No. He was studying her.

"Do I look funny or something?" She asked in a somewhat smartass tone

Hiram was caught back by this a bit. Was she trying to communicate with him? Well, duh! He was the only other being in the room. He flipped open his computer again and typed something into it. Aleris watched him diligently.

Something very strange was going on and she hadn't a clue of what it was about. Black, mutated dragons killing her fellow students in just about the coolest way. Seven foot Jamaicans with masks and cool wrist guards popping out of the woodwork. She knew this was going to be one of those days.

She knew she should have faked sick and committed Hari Kari this morning, but NO! She just HAD to come to school today.

Damn those…whatever they were…things! Couldn't they have waited until after lunch to wreak havoc in the greater Spokane area? Man, was she hungry.

The scratching. It came back again. But not from the door, this time. It was above them. Hiram knew what it was. He could see the Kainde Amedha just over Aleris.

No way was he going to let it kill this Ooman. It's the first Ooman he'd seen that wasn't dead or dying. He lunged at Aleris. He pushed her down and covered her entire body with his own. A Kainde Amedha pounced down where Aleris was standing.

Hiram quickly recovered and stood up. He fully extended his wrist blade and went after the Alien. The Alien hit the blade back with its skeleton tail. It lunged at Hiram, but he drove the blade into the alien. It instantly began to smoke and melt. Hiram broke it off and pushed the alien into the wall.

The alien gave off a terrible scream and bounced off the wall after Hiram. The forced it hit with flung him onto the ground behind. The alien reached out and clawed at Hiram, leaving scratch marks on his mask and breast plate.

Aleris watched this and decided she needed to help. Grabbing an unused fire extinguisher, she carefully walked over. She hoped the alien wouldn't see her and try and attack her before she could think of something to do.

Hiram caught a glimpse of Aleris. He looked over and saw she was holding a bright red cylinder.

Why would she need that? Is she going to try and help him by hitting it over the head? Yeah, like THAT'LL work…

Hiram grabbed the aliens' hands, trying to flip it over so he could safely blow it away with his shoulder cannon. This was going to be one of those days for him.

Aleris figured the Jamaican would lose. She pulled out the hose of the extinguisher and pulled the clip out. The alien heard the click and shot a sharp look at her. Giving off a sharp scream it tried to go after her. Hiram wouldn't let it go and kept it above him. He still had no idea what the hell she was doing.


	2. Chapter 1 B

Aleris shot the alien with the stream of cold right in the face. It screamed again and jumped backwards off of Hiram. This was his chance. Focusing his cannon, he blew the alien away with one blue ball of energy.

She heard a loud scream within the room; so loud that it deafened her. It wasn't from her and she was pretty sure it wasn't from the Jamaican.

The aliens' body parts flew across the room and began to smoke.

Hiram shifted his eyes over to the Ooman female. She still held the red cylinder in her hands. Amazing. Who knew cattle could have such courage. She wasn't scared and didn't move any. She just stared at the burning hole. If he had a notepad at this moment, he would start to take notes.

Aleris only moved here eyes to examine the Jamaican. She gave up trying to figure out what was going on and just sighed loudly.

"I give up!" She yelled

She threw the extinguisher into the air behind her and walked back over to the window. The dragons' blood had melted the floor beneath it and exposed the lower level. Looking at the hole, she thought over her present situation.

Black dragons were attacking students and coming out of the ceiling after her and the Jamaican. Their blood (or at least that is what she thought it was) could melt floors and probably anything else it touched. And now a mutated Jamaican that was probably close to seven, if not eight, feet tall and a cool wrist guard was STARING at her. No idea why, but he was. If it was a he at all!

Hiram watched the Ooman female closely. He'd never actually witnessed one that was quite like her.

From what his text books have said, the Oomans run or try and kill the Yautja. But she did not. If only he could get her to acknowledge him. Now that would be something. To be able to have the privilege to have close contact with an Ooman. To be able to talk to one would be such an honor for him. A first for his kind, since most of the time the Yautja are blowing their grey matter out.

Oh yeah. That was a pretty cool sight.

He changed his vision to he could see her organs and bones. He had to make sure he would not regret saving this female.

Her bones were denser than average for Oomans. This meant that her bones would not break as easily and it could make for a stronger warrior. Her organs, as well, were in near perfect condition. Her stomach was a little smaller than usual and her heart beat slightly faster than normal, but she was still young. She would grow into an adult and even out.

This was good for her. She was an excellent specimen and now Hiram did not regret saving her.

He saw the female bend down behind the table. He took a step closer to the desk. She was so small that she disappeared behind the table. The female stood back up and turned to face Hiram. She had, in her hand, the arm of the alien that was now shake and bake.

Hiram did not understand why this Female would want that. It's not like she was a hunter. She brought the arm up over the table and tipped the open end down. The Aliens' blood spilt onto the desk. It immediately began to dissolve it and smoke.

Aleris bent her head down close to the desk, examining the hole in the desk. She concluded that it was an acid and wanted it badly. For blood of course.

Hiram kneeled down in front of the female and studied her thoroughly. She was curious about this new specimen. As was he about her.

Uh oh. She was getting that feeling again. Something in the back of her brain was screaming, "Aleris, you idiot! MOVE!" She hated that voice of hers. Was always yelling at her. She decided to make it stop yelling and looked up.

When she did look up, every hair on her body stood up on end. The Jamaican was right there, face to face with her. She calmed herself down quickly and stared at him, hoping it would freak him out and he'd move away from her person.

Hiram noticed she was no longer studying the hole in the table, but him. She exhaled sharply and raised an eye brow at him. Hiram didn't even know Oomans could do that with their facial hair!

"Ok. I need to ask you. Do I really look THAT funny?"

She didn't know if he could understand her, but it was worth a try.

He understood her perfectly. Earlier, he had switched on the translator program. This allowed him to understand what the Oomans were saying. Yeah, that came in handy on a planet of 3 billion of them. He hesitated to use it though. He wanted to wait and see what she would say to him if she thought he couldn't understand her.

Aleris took the silence for her answer. Ugg. Why did she even try sometimes?

She stood up and glanced out the window again. She so needed to get out of this stupid school. She was really hungry now.

Hiram came up next to her and looked out the window. There were no aliens outside in the parking lot. He flipped open his computer and typed something. Seems all the aliens were somewhere inside the building.

This was their chance to get out of the building and get somewhere safe until help could arrive. But how could they get out? He could just blast the window out and he could get out. But what about the Ooman female? What if the aliens got out and successfully took over this world?

He had to save at least one Ooman from this world.

He quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back, close to his body. He charged his shoulder cannon and blasted the window into thousands of pieces with a single blue ball of energy.

Aleris looked up at the Jamaican and noted his shoulder cannon. Oh yeah. She wanted one of those too.

Hiram grabbed Aleris by her waist and jumped out of the window. He landed roughly, but sure Aleris didn't feel the brunt of the force. He let her go and she immediately ran away from him. Was she afraid of him now, or what?

Aleris ran to a newer silver car and quickly looked it over. Not scratched or anything. Just had some blood on it. That's real good because that car was hers. She opened the door and put the key into the ignition. It began to beep, announcing to the world that the door was open. She looked back to her friend, who had not moved any. She waved him over to her, hoping he at least new sign language.

Hiram got what she meant and walked over to her. He didn't know why she wanted him to go over to her with the many coloured ships, but he decided to anyway. She may have an idea.

He reached her silver ship and waited for her to talk.

"Look. We can take my car somewhere and hide out until we can find help. Is that ok with you?"

Hiram snarled at her. How could she think she would know where to go for safety. Then again, she lived here. She may know of somewhere that has supplies and could provide shelter.

Aleris slid into her car and shut the door. She reached over and unlocked the passenger car door. She noticed her friend didn't open the door. Then it hit her. He was alien and probably had no idea how to open a door. She reached back over and opened the door for her friend.

Hiram walked around the door and looked into the grounded ship. He didn't know how exactly to get into this vehicle, but remembered how the female got in and tried his best to copy her.

He sat on the seat of the vehicle and brought his feet inside. He noted how the car had bounced when he sat down. He looked over to Aleris. He had to make sure he did it right.

Aleris smiled and reached in front of the Jamaican to shut his door. Not perfect, but excellent for his first time. She turned on the car and pulled out of her parking spot. She slowly went over the speed bumps and looked down both ways down the roads. Not surprisingly, there was no a car in sight. With one final glance back to the school, she sped out of the parking lot and down the road.

She knew not what was going to come of her, now that the world was pretty much ending. She also did not fully understand what was going on. All she knew was that she was alive and she had acquired a friend along the way. Sure the friend was an eight foot tall Jamaican with a cool wrist guard. He was helping her and probably knew more about the wingless dragons than she did. For that, she would keep him around for a little while longer.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Aleris drove her car through downtown Spokane like she had so many times before. But this time was different for so many reasons. The buildings were unusual quiet for a Monday morning, for one. The people that were usually busy getting to work and finding a parking space were now few and far between. That and she had the eight foot Jamaican in the seat next to her. That was strange in itself.

She looked over to her friend and saw that he was busy looking around outside the car. She decided to ask him a question, if he was still all with her.

"Should we find somewhere where we can barricade ourselves in or what?"

Aleris knew it was pointless to ask him, but hey. He might surprise her.

Hiram heard her, but chose not to acknowledge her. She may have a clue after all, but he needed to see if she could survive on her own. If he were to protect her and make sure she would survive, he would have to be sure she was strong. You just cannot have a planet full of weak species.

Aleris snorted to herself. She knew it was pointless to ask him. She stopped at a red light and relaxed in her seat. She had no idea what to do and the Jamaican was not helping in the slightest. Just as she relaxed fully, her stomach growled loudly.

Hiram shot his head over to the female. What was that sound? Was she hurt and he didn't know about it? She noticed how strangely Hiram acted and smiled.

"It's ok. I'm just hungry"

Hungry? She was hungry? How could such a sound be made from hunger? Hiram was never going to get Ooman anatomy.

The light was still red. Aleris looked in her rearview mirror and saw nothing. This set her on edge. This town was boring and all, but this! The town was dead. She concluded that the dragons had made it farther out that she first realized. But where were they now? She knew her friend wouldn't have left the school if there was a great deal of danger.

Aleris turned the corner and drove just out of the center of Spokane. She pulled into a WalMart parking lot, but stopped abruptly after entering. The lot was completely empty. This really got to Aleris. The WalMart was never like this. This could only mean that the apocalypse had come and she was going to be killed by aliens with an alien helping her survive. Oh yeah, life was good.

Hiram watched the female carefully. Something was wrong on a level he couldn't imagine.

He still watched her as she parked the ground ship. She turned the ship off and got out of it. He watched her impatiently as she got out of the ship and walked around the front of it. She couldn't have forgotten about him. He had no idea how to work the door. He was lucky, he believed. The female came around and opened the door for him. He stepped out of the ship and looked around.

He switched his vision to heat. He found nothing. Nothing with a heat signature showed up. He switched it again, but to the electrical vision this time. Out in the distance, he saw it. An alien was out there. It had not yet seen them, but they had to take refuge somewhere. He turned around to look for the female.

Ah. The female was smarter than he first realized. She had gone into a building that had large glass doors. Yeah, it was a good thing he had kept her around. He quickly trotted after her through the open doors.

Aleris looked about the huge Walmart. It was a Super Walmart so it was not only huge, but it had everything imaginable. She usually loved this place. It was usually full of people. Not today, it seemed. It was dead quiet and dead still.

The Jamaican gently set his lizard had on her shoulder. It startled her only because she was already freaked out beyond belief. She turned around to face him head on. He pointed out the closed glass doors towards something. Aleris looked askance and saw it. One of those dragon things was out there. It wasn't coming for them yet, but it would be soon.

Aleris looked over the glass doors. She had to shut them, but how did you shut them? Man, she hated doors sometimes.

She saw the chain that was connected to the metal sheet was hanging down next to the glass doors.

Duh…

Aleris walked over to the chain and pulled down on it, causing the metal sheet to come down and concealed the glass doors.

Hiram watched the female carefully. He thought back to when he was studying to be a scientist. His teachers would tell him that the Oomans were stupid and did not have the thinking capacity to protect themselves and thus survive. But this female had just proved them all wrong.

The female approached him again.

"We can stay here for at least a few days if we're careful. Do you have someone you can get here to help us?"

He already sent out a distress signal to his clan, but it would be seven suns before they would arrive. Hiram could only nod his head to the female. She was starting to prove herself to him. She was not any great warrior, but she was stronger than most of the Oomans on this planet. One question would not leave him though. Could she prove herself in battle?

Aleris took his nod as a good thing. Maybe they would be able to get out of here alive after all. That is, if he was planning on saving her. Well, why would he go to the trouble of protecting her at the school if he was not going to save her from the destruction of the world?

Oh well. She decided not to worry herself of such things. She needed to make sure all the exits were blocked so the dragons could not get in and kill them.

"Stay here" She said to Hiram. "I'll be right back. I'm going to make sure the other doors are locked"

She gave her Jamaican friend a small smile and ran off into the store.

Hiram stood there quietly. He did not fully understand why this Ooman was being so kind to him. Oomans were a violent specie that had no honor among them. They bred without making the subsequent generations stronger. If anything, they had made the next generations weaker. They kill each other over simple property. They were a specie that didn't deserve to exist.

But this female defied everything he had learned.

She was born strong. Her bones and organs were above average. She was cunning as well; wanting to learn about those things that she does not know about. She had the makings of being an ideal Ooman to save without any training to speak of. With the proper schooling, she could become a warrior.

She would have to be. This world would probably be infested with aliens and would need to be sanitized. They would have to repopulate this world. The best female for would need the best male for breeding and, so far, he only had the best female.

Hiram walked down one of the larger walkways. On either side of him were racks of the Ooman clothing. These objects were strange to Hiram. He had not seen any of this in his textbooks. He knew the Oomans wore clothing made from certain materials that was attractive to the eye. He also knew that these clothes didn't protect them at all. They were mere adornments, unlike his trophy skulls.

He switched his vision back to heat. He didn't see the female anywhere and did not know of where to look for her. He hit the back of the building. In front of him were smaller clothes than the ones on either side of him. He looked down another large walkway. He saw her heat signature down a ways from him. She was walking towards him.

Aleris saw her friend and jogged up to him. She stopped in front of hi, bowing her head slightly.

"I locked all the major doors. I think that'll keep us safe until help comes"

Hiram chirped in response to her. He was almost proud of her. Almost. The female made her sound of hunger again. She smiled and grabbed her stomach.

"I'm going to see if I can get an apple or something. Want something?"

Want Ooman food? Hiram didn't know if their food could nourish him properly. He wanted to study this Ooman environment a little more before he had to worried about nourishment. He turned his back to the female and walked away towards the other side of the store.

Aleris took that as a no. She walked off towards the food section of the store and disappeared into the many aisles.

xXx

Several hours later

xXx

Aleris sat alone in the produce section with her back to one of the tubs of fruit. She reached up above her head and pulled down a bright red apple. She was about to take a huge chunk out of the apple when her friend walked up. He stopped next to her and sat down. There was almost complete silence in the store. That was, of course, until the Jamaicans' stomach growled semi-loudly. Aleris smiled and help out her apple to her friend.

What is this? Was the female trying to feed him a blood covered fruit? He decided to take it, lest the female get angry at him. That's the LAST thing he needs. He poked at it with his clawed finger.

"You kind of have to take off your helmet to eat it"

Take off his helmet? How could he do that? He would not be able to understand the female if he took it off. That and what would she think if he did take it off? Her kind had never seen his kind without their helmets and lived to tell about it. Ah. What the hell? She had seen quite a few scenes that would have deeply disturbed any normal Ooman. He considered her strong enough to see his true self.

Hiram reached under his chin and hit a button. A gush of air blew out from the mask, but ceased quickly. He reached up with his clawed hands and gently removed his mask. He slowly pulled it over his face. He revealed his face to the Ooman female. She deserved to see it after all.

When her Jamaican friend removed his mask, Aleris was at a loss for words. His face was more of a squid than anything else. He had four pointy tusks that extended outward. Hidden within was another mouth, full of teeth. He also had a large forehead. This didn't bother Aleris though. She had seen dragons killing people and now this guy. Only one thing came to her mind when she saw him.

"Can you say 'Sushi'?"

She handed him the apple again. Hiram cocked his head slightly and took the fruit. This female was just full of surprises. He opened his tusks and took a bite out of the blood soaked fruit. Hiram was startled a bit. It was sweet, but also sour. He was intrigued by this. Who knew Ooman food could taste so good.

Aleris reached up and grabbed another apple. She bit into the red fruit and took out a huge chunk of it. Her friend watched her while eating his apple. This would have freaked her out just hours before, but right now, nothing could freak her out. But anymore strange surprises and she would burst an artery.

This really did get to Aleris, regardless of what she let on. She was tired and depressed like never before. All she wanted to do is lie down and die. She just might try that.

Aleris laid down next to the produce bin and shut her eyes.

Hiram studied the female. She was tired, he could tell. He was tired as well. It had been a long day for the both of them. Hiram then made a command decision. He couldn't let this female sleep on a cold, hard floor.

He picked her up off the floor and took her towards the inside of the store. He didn't understand WHY he liked this female so much. There was just something about her that sparked an uncontrollable interest in him. He wanted to take her back with him, to his ship and to his home planet, so he could study her more intensely. Oh yes, he would keep her around for a little while longer.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Yautja Leader, Xerxes, stood at the front of his ship, looking out into the depths of space.

His robe was adorned with red fabric and many different skulls from different species. His tusks were larger and his hair thicker than the other Yautja. Showing he was of a higher status. He was a great warrior and elder to all the Yautja in his clan.

He had just received a distress signal from a fellow warrior from his clan. He rushed towards the planet called Ee-arth. The ship buzzed with electricity and the many flashing lights kept the other Yautja informed of their speed and location.

He sent Hiram to Ee-arth for observational purposes. He was an aspiring scientist in the field of Ooman study. Xerxes decided to send him to where the Oomans live so he could have hands on field training.

He had also sent Hiram to Ee-arth for another reason.

Just about twenty years ago Xerxes had sent another much older and experienced scientist to Ee-arth. His job was to collect DNA from the many different species on the planet. His vitals signs ceased not long after landing on the planet.

Xerxes had it on good authority that the Oomans in one of the bigger countries had captured him and confiscated what he had on his person. The higher members had taken the Queen Kainde Amedha DNA had began to try and combine it with Ooman DNA.

Stupid Oomans, Xerxes thought. It was impossible to combine the DNA of the Queen Kainde Amedha AND Ooman and still have it be mostly Ooman. That was, until, four years later…

Some of Xerxes' soldiers had informed him that the Oomans had succeeded on fusing the two genetic codes into one Ooman. This set Xerxes on edge. If the Oomans could train her properly, she could be unstoppable. Having Ooman wit and the ability to control Kainde Amedha would make her the ultimate warrior.

He ordered the lab and creation destroyed. The soldiers did the job well, destroying everything. It wasn't until later that the soldiers found out that the creation had been moved to a secret location to live.

They also found something else out…

The creation was an Ooman female. She had the acid blood from the aliens along with their agility and quickness. He wasn't sure where she was moved to, but he had to destroy her. He couldn't let her grow and become stronger. Who knows what other powers she may contain.

xXx

Hiram awoke the next day to extreme quiet. He looked over to the female. She was still asleep.

The night before, Hiram had taken the female to the clothing part of the store for protection. He had grabbed a pillow to keep her comfortable and snatched up a blanket to keep her temperature had a constant level.

He also left his mask off for the night. He knew he shouldn't have, but for some reason, Hiram didn't think he needed it around the female.

He sat up, still looking at the female. He wanted so badly to touch her skin and hair. He wanted to know what she felt like. He reached over with his clawed hand. It was just too tempting for Hiram to bear.

Carefully, he flipped her brown bangs out of her face. She didn't stir. Good. He studied her face for a few minutes. Small forehead, two eyes, one mouth with small teeth… much different from himself.

He grabbed a lock of her hair and rubbed it between his two fingers. He was both fine and soft. He let go of her hair and went back to her face.

Soft features and smooth skin. He wanted to rube his finger against her skin. He wanted to see just how soft it was compared to his own. He gently laid his index finder on her cheek.

He quickly withdrew it when she moved her head to him and sighed. She didn't open her eyes. Hiram noted all of this mentally.

Hiram laid his hand on the side of her face. His hand almost covered her face completely. She didn't move has he begun to gently rub her cheek with his claws.

Aleris moved her head to one side in her sleep. She didn't stir when his reptilian skin touched hers. It didn't seem like she minded him touching her, even though she was still asleep.

Hiram moved his hand to her neck, still stroking her cheek. He couldn't explain why, but he felt something strange for this female. Something profound stuck out about her. She was different from the other Oomans. He just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

Aleris awoke to her friend stroking her cheek and the rest of his clawed fingers wrapped around her neck. She halfway thought that he was going to try and hurt her. He was making a low purring noise, so she quickly discarded that thought.

Aleris turned her head back up so she could see her friend fully. She smiled to him.

"Good morning" She said sweetly to him

Something in Hiram started to pound when she spoke to him. Well, OBVIOUSLY it was his heart, but it wasn't because he was tired or anything. Oh my Hera. Could this be those emotions the other Yautja scientists are talking about?

Hiram didn't care about that at the present time. He just wanted to make sure the female was comfortable before he cared about himself.

Aleris shot up out of her makeshift bed, which startled Hiram quite a bit. She began to breathe hard. She heard something inside the store. Talking almost. And in the back of her mind, there was something telling her to move forward; to kill anything in her path.

This frightened Aleris. Go where? Kill who? This wasn't one of her regular voices. This was something else.

Hiram knew something was wrong with the female. She was breathing hard. This was bad, he knew it, but what could have caused this kind of a reaction from her? She was usually calm and cool, but now she wasn't.

Hiram heard it. From the back of the store. Some Kainde Amedha were inside. From the sounds of it, it sounded like there were about three drones. Hiram stood up and put on his mask, switching it to electrical immediately. He looked about. He saw nothing. But he heard them.

He really did hate it when they did that. You can hear them just fine but it isn't until they're right there in your face about to kill you do you know where they are. The female stood up shakily. He had to protect her and figure out was going on with her.

There. He saw one of the drones scurry down an aisle. He took a step closer to the female and gently pulled her behind his body. He darted his head from direction to direction like a bird's trying to keep track of the three drones that now were surrounding them.

Aleris could not stay focused. She was hearing voices. They sounded like they were talking into her ear. She was starting to loose control of her own mind. There were three distinct voices whispering the same thing over and over again.

'Get them. Must take them to the Queen. Must bring more brothers and sisters.'

But there was another, much louder, voice with the three. It was almost yelling at her.

'Bring me more hosts. Don't stop'

It was a good battle, but Aleris lost.

She turned and ran and disappeared into the racks of clothing. Hiram growled in frustration. He had no idea what was going on and now of ALL times, the female decides to turn tail.

He saw them. Two of the drones were speeding around the walls and ceiling. He shot out with his shoulder cannon. He hit one head on. It splattered against the wall and melted it immediately. The other jumped down onto the floor to avoid being hit with the blue energy ball. Hiram charged after it.

That left Aleris by herself. She hid in one of the clothing racks. One of the whispering voices had ceased, but now there were only two. The louder voice had also ceased, for now. She hid in fear, knowing she left her friend to kill the dragons.

There was the sound of the Jamaicans cannon going off. A couple a shots, a few impacts, and…

Aleris crippled over, grabbing at her ears. Another scream. The sheer pitch of the scream made her cringe. It ceased after not too long. There was only one whispering voice now. And the louder voice had come back.

'Get the hosts. Avenge your brothers' and sisters' deaths.' It said again and again

Hiram had killed off two of the drones easily. That left the one. He jumped up onto the top of one of the display shelves and looked down over the entire store. He saw the last drone. It was going in and out of the clothing racks. Hiram switched his vision to thermal. He then saw Aleris and realized how close the drone was to her.

Aleris saw the dragon through the clothes. It was too close, but she dare not move. His hissed, frustrated almost. Then it turned sharply to her. It saw her.

The dragon crouched down, poised for a pounce. Aleris took the chance to run out of the rack of clothes. The dragon darted out after her, but caught up in the clothes. It freed itself momentarily. Aleris ran out of the clothes with the dragon right behind her. She darted from side to side to avoid the dragon's attacks as she ran down the walkway.

Hiram watched with interest. This female was quick and agile. She was able to outrun a Kainde Amedha and still be able to turn and avoid attacks. Amazing. This convinced him. There was something about this female that wasn't Ooman. She was too perfect for such a spoiled specie. There was something else…

Aleris tripped and rammed herself it a cement wall. She hit hard enough to blur her vision and leave her temporarily disabled. The dragon ran up to her, but stopped. Aleris looked at the dragon, expecting it to jump at her and kill her, but it did not. It just stood there, staring at her.

The voice. It changed. It was still a whisper, but now it said something different.

'Sister? Why are you here? You should be with the Queen. She is expecting you…'

Aleris tried her best to calm herself down. The dragon just stood there, staring at her.

"The Queen?" Aleris was almost unable to get out. She was so scared at the moment

'Yes. The Queen…' the voice said again. 'She can sense you. She wants to see you'

Hiram charged out and tackled the beast. The voice yelled out. Hiram lost his grip on the Kainde Amedha and I quickly turned and came back to him. Scratching Hiram all over his body and trying to stab him with its skeleton tail. Hiram succeeded in keeping the tail from stabbing him and the creature's second mouth from biting him, but he received many deep gashes.

Aleris realized she had to do something. She regained most of her composure and stood up. The dragon continued its assault on her friend.

"Stop it!" She yelled out

The dragon stopped attacking immediately and looked over to Aleris.

'Why do you ask me to stop?' The voice asked

Hiram took the opportunity to throw the Kainde Amedha off of him and blast it away with his cannon.

Another high itched scream consumed Aleris. Then everything was quiet. Hiram stayed still. He had many wounds that were bleeding and his energy was drained.

He was already tired from the night before. He had spent the whole night watching after the female. He fell into a deep sleep.

Aleris' composure was fully regained. The voices were gone. She walked over to her friend, who wasn't moving. She knelt down and placed her hand on his forehead. He was still breathing, just not moving.

Her eyes moved down his body. Neon green. That's all she saw.

'Hmm…that must be his blood…' She thought herself

She picked up some of the blood on her fingers and looked at it. It glowed slightly. Now she was really jealous.

She knew she had to get him out of here and find someone to take care of his wounds. She guessed that he could get an infection quite easily. She knew nothing about alien anatomy, but she figured it was better to be safe, than sorry.

Aleris decided to leave her friend for a few moments. She needed to gather some supplies to help her friend.

She left for the pharmacy department and returned minutes later with a hand basket full of supplies.

She kneeled back down by the Jamaican and looked him over again. She's lucky she wanted to be a RN when she grew up. She already had an idea how to clean wounds. She just hoped that alien anatomy didn't hold any surprises.

She emptied her basket out. It was mostly just rolls of gauze and handkerchiefs. She opened some of the packets of gauze, tossing the empty packets behind her. She looked over him again. She realized that she had to take off his armor before helping him.

She reached under his chin and looked for the button that releases the mask. She found the button and pressed it. Like before, a gush of air came from the mask and ceased quickly. She pulled up on gently the mask and removed it. She looked own upon her friend. He was sleeping peacefully with his eyes shut.

He was so ugly he was kind of cute to Aleris.

She proceeded to remove his chest plate and weapons, setting them carefully behind her. She grabbed the handkerchiefs and began to carefully wipe the neon blood away. She continued this for a little while longer. Then she proceeded to cover his gashes with the gauze.

This Jamaican had saved her from the school and saved her once here. The least she could do was make sure he didn't bleed to death or get a blood infection. Yeah, this guy had started to grow on her.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hiram awoke slowly. His eyes were blurry and couldn't make sense of anything. He blinked several times and his vision came back. He noticed it was very quiet in the store. He looked to one side of him and found the female. She was sleeping next to him.

He snorted to himself, because she had no blanket or pillow.

She was lying on her side, showing off her figure. Her hair had fallen into her face, halfway concealing it. Hiram saw that he was covered by a blanket. He slowly sat up. It was painful, but not as much has he was expecting. He looked over his body.

His mask and chest plate were gone. He looked around for them and found them not too far from him, along with his trophies. He also saw that he had a pillow underneath his head. He tossed the blanket off of him. That's when he saw his body.

He remembered the fight and he remembered getting wounded badly. But all of his wounds were covered by strips of white fabric. He was confused by this. How did they get there?

Then it hit him.

The female had done this. She took the time to clean him up and wrap up his wounds. She cared enough for him to make sure he was comfortable. Oh shit. There was that feeling again. That feeling deep in his chest. He really needed to figure out what that feeling was.

Aleris yawned and opened eyes. She was startled to see her friend awake. She quickly sat up and scooted closer to him.

"You're not supposed to be up yet. You're still injured!"

Hiram didn't understand what she was saying, but he what she meant. He could read the emotions in her face. Hiram purred to try and calm her down, but it didn't work. Quite a stubborn Ooman she was.

Aleris grabbed his shoulder with one hand and slid the other around his neck. She gently pushed back on him, forcing him to lie back down. He succumbed to her power and laid back down on the floor. Aleris grabbed the blanket he had thrown off and covered him with it again. She slid her hand under his chin to make sure he was still alright. He was.

Hiram clicked his tusks together, telling her that he was happy she was there. She smiled at him sweetly. This made Hiram feel better. As long as she was there with him, everything would be fine.

Aleris let go of his chin. She slid it down to his chest, thinking of what to do next. She stopped it at the peak of his chest. She looked around them. She didn't know what to do or how to do it.

Hiram took this opportunity to raise his hand and flip open his wrist computer. He then realized he had been out for an entire day. Also, something else caught his eye. His Clan would be there in just a few days to get them. This surprised Hiram much. He thought his Clan might take longer to get here.

This made Hiram very happy. Now he could take this Ooman female back with him, forever. Wait a second. There was that feeling again. That was really going to bug Hiram.

Hiram was completely relaxed with the Ooman female by his side. Aleris, however, was not so relaxed.

The voice had returned. It was as loud as ever. She tried to tune the voice out.

Aleris placed her hand on her friends' forehead. Ever so gently, she rubbed his enlarged forehead. He purred unintentionally while half asleep. This made Aleris smile.

She never did feel quite at home among her fellow Oomans. There was always something she felt deep inside of her. Something that was hidden well.

Aleris lost the fight to suppress the voice.

'Get out!' It screamed

Then, it was silent in the store and in Aleris' mind. Except for the Jamaican's breathing.

Hiram was relaxed, but not asleep. He watched the mixture of emotions on the female's face. He wondered to himself if that was what he was feeling. An Emotion.

The sound of jet engines echoed in the empty store, disrupting the silence. Aleris realized they were going in to the direction of the school.

'Strange' Aleris thought. 'What would jets be doing going out there?'

Her question was soon answered.

The sound of the jets was heard again, but retreating this time. A deafening explosion followed them.

Hiram shot up off the floor. He didn't know what the explosion was of. He quickly grabbed Aleris in his arms, pulling her against his chest.

The shockwave hit the store next. The products that were perched on too the display shelves now threw themselves off in droves. The display shelves were next. They fell onto one another, trying to escape the shockwave's wrath.

Hiram and Aleris were lucky. They had taken refuge in the clothing department. They were completely surrounded by clothing racks. The worst they had to endure was being covered by clothes.

The shockwave past them quickly. The store lay quiet once again. Hiram looked around at the destruction in the store. He never once let go of the female.

He half expected the Kainde Amedha do be behind this shake-up. If the Kainde Amedha were behind it, they would surely be inside the store in no time and impregnate them.

Hiram found that whole process a bit disturbing anyway. No way he wanted to be any part of it.

Hiram reached for his mask and put it on. He immediately changed the vision to electrical and looked for invading Kainde Amedha.

Aleris noticed the Jamaican's cannon was armed and ready. She tried to break his hold on her, but she was no match for his alien strength.

"It's ok," She spoke softly. "Some jets just blew up something. They probably blew up the school trying to kill the dragons."

Hiram loosened his hold on the female. He also put his cannon back into the resting position. He trusted what the female said.

Aleris stood up. She looked to where the school would be. She heard many voices now. They were all speaking at the same time; no one stood out.

Hiram stood up painfully slow. His wounds, though a day old, were still open and bled slightly.

Aleris knew what was happening outside. The dragons were coming together. They were coming back together.

They were going to start to look for a new hive.

She turned to her friend. He stood painfully. She knew she had to get him out of here and help with his wounds. She walked up to him and grabbed his arm. She tugged on it gently, telling him to start walking. He took a step, but the pain consumed him and he nearly fell onto Aleris. She grabbed her friend around his waist and supported what weight she could. Slowly, they walked towards the front of the store, dodging fallen merchandise and display shelves.

xXx

The aliens were coming together just outside the crater where the school once was. The drones growled and hissed at one another. They were lucky. The casualties they suffered were low. Their Queen had also survived the blast. This made them happy, in an alien sort of way.

The Queen broke out of a pile of rubble that concealed her. She shook the dirt and dust off of her body as the drones surrounded her. They checked her over, making sure she had no serious injuries. All she had were minor scrapes and scratches.

She roared at the drones. The drones began to run off towards the town. The Queen soon started to run with them.

xXx

Aleris heard it. The order to move out was given. Her time was running out. She had successfully gotten her friend to her car in little time. He sat in the passenger seat, not moving much. She put the key in the ignition and started the car. She reached down to the radio.

"Hope you don't mind if we listen to some music." She wasn't asking him more than she was just informing him of her command decision

She turned o the radio. Good. Rock music was on.

The music thumped away in the car. Hiram noted how harsh the sounds were and how much the female relaxed when it started.

Aleris drove out of the Walmart parking lot. She got onto the surface streets and not surprisingly, there was not a person to be had. She looked down both sides of the street. All she could think was 'where to go…where to go…'

She turned down the street after deciding to take her friend to the hospital. Sure, no one would be there to help that was alive AND knew a thing about alien anatomy, but she knew enough about the medical field to help the Jamaican until help arrived.

IF help arrived.

Nonetheless, Aleris was relieved. She didn't hear any voices over the music. This meant there were no dragons near by.

All she saw next was black hitting her car. The car spun out and came to an abrupt stop.

Aleris looked out the window and saw a dragon. It crouched down, ready to pounce. She tried to yell out at it, but for some reason, it chose not to listen to her. It lunged toward the car. Aleris floored the accelerator. The car charged forward, evading the brunt of the attack. It still hit the back of the car, causing it to fishtail and spin out.

The car and the dragon now faced each other head on.

Hiram held onto the seat and chair tightly. He wasn't afraid that the female might crash and kill them. No, he trusted the female fully, even with his life. He was scared because the grounded ship was no real defense against the Kainde Amedha. It's not that he didn't believe the female could protect them effectively. It was just that she had no training to protect the properly and he was of no use.

"¡Muere puta!" Aleris yelled out as she hit the accelerator again. The car jumped forward towards the dragons. It hissed at the approaching car, unaware of the car's speed.

It leapt for the car and hit the front end of it. It tried to climb the hood, but it was sucked under the car. It was run over by two of the tires. The car sped off down the road away from the dragon. Being run over by the car didn't kill the dragon, but just left it temporarily incapacitated. It got up and hissed at itself.

xXx

Xerxes stood at the helm of his ship. It would still be two days before they would reach Ee-arth.

Xerxes didn't like this. A fellow warrior from his Clan was stranded on a planet with few supplies.

He didn't know how, but the Kainde Amedha had somehow gotten to this planet and began to multiply rapidly. He had investigators on the case, but now, that didn't matter. All that he cared about was getting Hiram off of Ee-arth.

A lower Yautja soldier came up behind Xerxes.

"Sir" He said loudly

Xerxes turned his head to see the soldier. "What is it?" He was slightly aggravated at the moment

"The Kainde Amedha population has doubled since primary infestation"

"What about Hiram?"

"He has been detected near the initial infestation." The soldier picked up a clip board and flipped through some papers. "Seems he has a Pyode Amedha with him"

Xerxes sighed loudly. "That'll be all"

The soldier nodded in respect and walked away.

This was more than bad. Yautja and Pyode Amedha could never get along with one another. The Pyode Amedha were a primitive specie that were only good for being host to the ultimate prey; the Kainde Amedha. That was all they were good for in Xerxes' eyes.

The ship sped off towards the planet to save Hiram from this Pyode Amedha and the Kainde Amedha.

xXx

Hiram awoke with a headache. He didn't feel any pain, but as soon as he tried to move, he felt it rush at him. So, needless to say, he didn't move much. He laid silently, unaware of where he was and where the female was. He just hoped he was safe. He tried to look around, but everything was a blurry white.

His thoughts were interrupted not soon after he awoke.

"Morning sleepy head"

It was the female. Her voice was soft. Hiram relaxed, knowing they were in no immediate danger if the female was so calm. He slipped back into sleep not soon after.

Aleris looked down at her friend. She couldn't tell if he was asleep or just ignoring her.

Aleris had gotten to the hospital just fine. No more dragon attacks along the way. When she got to the hospital, Her Jamaican friend had pasted out. God knows WHY he did, but who was she to judge? She didn't know the first thing about Alien anatomy.

She had grabbed a hospital bed and pulled it next to her car. She had to struggle to get him out of her car. She knew she had to do this quickly, just in case the dragons came back. She got him onto the bed and rushed him inside. Once he was inside, she blocked the doors with furniture, trying to keep the doors covered more than blocked.

She rolled the unconscious Jamaican into a cold white waiting room to stay. She shut the door behind her and quickly went back to her friend.

He wasn't seriously hurt, or so she thought. She grabbed a blanket from the nurse's station and covered him with it.

Then she thought for a second. The only thing she's seen him eat was that apple a few days ago. She didn't know if he had eaten since then. She decided that she would fetch some applesauce while her friend was down for the count.

She walked to the doorway that led out of the room. She gave once last look back to her friend and walked out.

xXx

Hiram awoke again a little time later. His pain was completely gone now. His regular vision had also returned. He looked around the room and saw nothing but white. He noticed only his face was cold. He tried to reach up to touch his face, but the blanket caught his attention. Then it hit him.

The female brought him here. She got him out of danger yet again and cared for him. He turned his head and his left arm was above the blanket. Sticking out of it was a plastic tube. He reached for it, but his hand was stopped. He slowly moved his head over to see what had stopped him. A small, pale hand was wrapped around his dark, reptilian one.

The female, he remembered. She was still there with him.

"No, don't touch the I.V."

Hiram could only stare at her. He didn't have a clue what she was saying. He shook his hand loose of the female's grip. He brought his hand up to his face, laying it flat.

Aleris understood and crotched down for a second. She stood up quickly with the Jamaican's mask. She figured that the mask had some sort of translator for him. She set the mask gently on his face and secured it in place. She waited for him silently. She didn't know what he was doing, but she knew he was ready for her when he turned his head back t him.

"Don't touch the tube from your arm. It's an IV. It's giving you fluids, nutrients, and some pain killers"

Why was this female being so caring towards him? It's not like they had any special bond of warriors or were part of the same Clan. No, they were complete opposites in almost every way. The only thing that held them together was the fact that he was stranded on this planet and was running from the Kainde Amedha with the female.

But she was helping him. Keeping him alive and well. But one burning question wouldn't leave him. Why was she doing this?

Aleris smiled at her friend. It wasn't everyday you had t help a kinky Jamaican reptile escape from mutated dragons. She figured that she was most likely going to die here and she might as well help someone survive. This way, her life might mean something.

Her attention was quickly diverted. She heard the voices. They weren't inside the hospital, but they were around it. They were searching, searching for a new hive. They Queen hadn't arrived yet. They still had some time.

She looked back to her friend. "Can you move?

Hiram sat up on the bed. He felt only a minor amount of pain. He reached to his arm to remove the plastic tube which was still in his arm, but the female stopped him yet again.

"Don't. Let me take it out"

The female walked around the bed. She grabbed a piece of white fabric that resembled a cloud. She placed it over the end of the tube to where is stopped at his arm. Hiram felt a strange sensation in his arm as the female pulled the tube away from his arm. He saw a metal point come out of his arm. The sensation ended and the female wrapped his arm with some white tape.

Oh, he thought. The female set up a way to give him the things his body needed. It wasn't the best, but great since the female was probably using him as a guinea pig. He jumped off the bed and faced the female head on. She barely came up to his chest.

Hiram chuckled to himself. This female had proven herself to him. She helped him escape the Kainde Amedha hive and took him to a fortress. She outran a Kainde Amedha and after his battle, wrapped his wounds. When something destroyed the fortress, she took him from it, killed another Kainde Amedha and brought him. Then she took care of him again.

Hiram couldn't figure out why the female was doing this to him. She kind, caring, and strong above all. Perhaps he would talk to the scientists about her.

This jogged something in his head. His Clan was supposed to be here. He flipped open wrist computer and typed in a something. His Clan was supposed to be here anytime now.

This is where he hit a wall. How was he supposed to tell the female his Clan was coming for them?

Aleris saw the Jamaican scratching head. She concluded he was thinking, but loosing badly. She thought about their impending doom briefly. There were now numerous voices surrounding the hospital. She looked up to her friend. He was still fighting to think.

"Do you have friends coming?" She asked

Hiram was surprised. She read his mind. He nodded slightly, his metal dreadlocks falling past his shoulders.

The female walked past him towards a small door. He followed her closely. Ducking underneath the door, he surveyed the hallways. White. Everything was white. The female walked on without him. He didn't have to walk very fast to catch up with her. She glanced at him over her shoulder and spoke to him.

"How are your friends getting here?"

Hiram pointed up towards the ceiling. She nodded and stopped short. Hiram had to swerve to miss her. The last thing he needed to do was run her over.

"If your friends are coming from up, then we should go to the roof"

The female stopped at silver doors and pressed a button on the wall that lit up upon contact. The doors opened and they walked inside of them. She pressed another button and they began to move. It wasn't long before they stopped moving and the doors opened again.

The female began to walk again. Hiram chased after her, still not sure what she was doing. She turned down another hallway, but stopped short again. Hiram just about ran into her again. He looked down the hallway. Ah, another Ooman.

Aleris knew this person. It was her male teacher that she had for History last semester. She never knew what his name really was. She always just called him Mr. S the jackass.

He wore a white hospital gown. Aleris joked with the thought that he was here to get castrated.

"You!" He pointed to her as he also staggered towards her. "What the hell are YOU doing here?"

Aleris took a step back. This guy always creped her out. Then the booming voice came back. She grabbed her ears, trying not to listen to it. God, she hated thi. She was being attacked from all sides. Then another sound came out. A deep roar echoed through the empty halls.

Hiram knew this roar. It was a Queen Kainde Amedha's roar. He really didn't like this. This meant a Queen was inside the building. He tried to grab the female's arm, but as soon as he got a hold of it, something behind him threw him towards the other Ooman. He quickly stood up next to the Ooman male and saw what hit him.

The Queen.

Damn.

Hiram took a step towards the female, but stopped when the Queen roared out.

The Queen herself had to crouch down in the hallway. Her long, smooth head hit the ceiling of the hallway. Her majesty knelt down to the female, nudging her softly.

This was a first for Aleris. A huge dragon was nuzzling her. She guessed it was a higher member of the specie seeing how it was so BIG. Either a warrior Dragon or it could be a Queen. Like a bee hive. That would explain a lot.

The Dragon kept nuzzling her. Aleris cautiously put her hand on its long head, rubbing slightly. It growled softly.

Hiram made a decision. He had to saved the female and get out of here so his Clan could save them. He ran up to Aleris.

The Queen saw the Yautja run up to them. She wasn't sure what it was doing, but she knew it couldn't be good. The Yautja always killed their drones, captured their Queens. No, she wasn't going to let the Yautja take their Queen again. She roared out.

This scared Aleris, because she thought it was going to kill her. It lunged out at her friend instead. She yelled out at it.

Before Aleris could do or say anything, her friend had retrieved a disk and threw it at the Queen. It breezed past her neck, cutting it deeply and attaching itself to the wall behind her. She screamed out in rage and pain as her acid blood hit the floor and ate it away. Her tail whipped about her, hitting the walls and floor.

Aleris ran up to the Queen. The Queen's tail got between Aleris and herself and quickly slashed Aleris across the stomach and threw her back. Aleris slid to a stop, clenching her stomach. The Queen pun around and roared an unusual roar. A roar of apology.

The Queen whipped back around to the Yautja. She lunged for him. Aleris, through her pain, cried out to the Queen.

"No!"

It stopped and turned to her. 'He's going to try and take you from us again' the voice said again

Aleris figured that the voices were the dragons talking to her. She didn't know how or why she was able to hear them, but she could. That's pretty much all she knew at this point. She took a quick glance to her stomach. Her shirt was ripped and soaked with blood.

"He's not going to kill me" She said breathlessly

The Queen cocked her slightly. Why was it her Queen was telling her not to kill the thing that killed her so many years ago?

"He is"

Aleris pointed to Mr. S the Jackass with a blood soaked finger. She hated him and would anything to see him die.

The Queen snarled at the man that was standing, dumbfounded. She leapt for him. He tried to run, but the Queen grabbed him with her claws. She stabbed him with her skeleton tail, keeping him from running away, and spraying blood behind him on the clean, white walls. She again grabbed him with both her hands and pulled hard in opposite directions. The two halves flew in separate directions, blood smearing along the white walls and floor.

Hiram took this chance to grabbed the female and run like hell. He ran down several white hallways, lost at the start. The female yelled out for him to which way to turn. This helped him. At least one of them knew where they were going. The Queen Kainde Amedha roared out again. Hiram ran faster. He was going to die if the Queen caught up to him. The female yelled out at him again, but this time to go through a door. He busted through a set of white doors. Behind them was a dark gray hallway. Hiram leapt up the metal stairs, flight by flight. He came to the top of the stairs. Another door stood in their way. He blasted through the doors, knocking them off their hinges.

They were now outside. Hiram set the female down gently. This Ooman was a formable opponent indeed. Hiram knew Oomans were the ultimate prey along with the Kainde Amedha because they had the ability to reason, problem solve, and shoot back. He now understood why blooded warriors that won against the Oomans did it just barely at most times.

Hiram flipped open his wrist computer. His Clan was supposed to be here anytime now. Damn. NOW would be the perfect time to get here. The Queen roared out again. They were running out of time. Sure, the female could keep the Queen from killing him, but could she do it again? He didn't want to find out.

Aleris watched her friend. His head darted from side to side. The booming voice came back. It wouldn't stop calling out for her. It wanted her to come back. Back to the hive. This was really going to get to Aleris. Now where on earth did she keep those happy pills?

She noticed her jeans were soaking up all of the blood. Strange. Why were her jeans beginning to smoke? Her shirt was smoking as well. She could feel herself start to fade away. She was loosing blood quite rapidly.

The sky grew dark above them. Aleris looked up. A huge ship was above them. She marveled at the sheer size of it. A football field at least. That was the last thing she saw as she sipped away.

Hiram sighed a sigh of relief. His Clan was finally here.


	6. Chapter 5 A

Chapter 5

Aleris awoke only halfway. It felt like she had some sort of blanket covering her. There was something covering part of her face though. She reached up to removed to blanket, but she felt the strange sensation all around her. She slowly opened her eyes. For some odd reason, they hurt badly. She finally got them open. Peering in front of her, she noticed something rather strange. She was behind glass. After closer inspection, she noticed other Jamaicans. At least…two.

'Oh no!' She thought to herself. 'I've become a Lobster!'

She hit the glass in front of her hard. It's not like that actually did anything, but it got the Jamaicans' attention. Aleris wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but it couldn't hurt. One of the Jamaicans walked over to where she was. He did something off to one side. Aleris started to think of what he could be doing, but was interrupted by a loud whirlpool sound. The liquid surrounding her left quickly and after it was gone, the door opened.

She fell out onto her face, hard. She slowly pushed herself off of the floor. A clawed hand wrapped itself around her arm and pulled her off the floor and nearly dislocating her shoulder.

Aleris looked up to the Jamaican that pulled her off the floor. He was tall like her friend, dreads, but there was something different about him. Oh, she gave up on all coherent thought right then. She didn't care anymore. A sudden feeling of coldness came over her. Her entire body shivered.

That was about the time she realized she was completely naked and covered in goop. Oh man. This day could not get any worse.

The Yautja clicked at the Ooman female. He understood that she was cold, but would she let him cloth her? He grabbed her other arm and pulled her higher off the ground.

Aleris studied the Jamaican. Like her friend, only not. She knew if she saw any more of these Jamaican's, she was going to get really confused, really quickly.

An automatic door opened behind her. She could only let her head fall limp to see who was coming in. For some reason, she felt really drugged at the current moment.

Hiram walked into the small, dark room. He saw the scientist holding the Ooman female off the floor. He looked down at the female. She was drugged, he could tell. Though, they had to. She was an unpredictable Pyode Kainde and they had to make sure she didn't break out and start raising hell. He placed his hand on her small forehead and purred. She had done well. He clicked a few things to the scientist and he left again.

That was the last thing Aleris saw before she passed out again

xXx

Aleris awoke again. Her surroundings were different this time. She was groggy now, but not drugged. Aleris sat up and looked around. She was in a dark room that was not as cold as the one before. Actually, it was comfortably warm. She spun her feet over the edge of the bed. A little lightheaded, she though, but she would get over it as soon as she started walking around.

Her head fell limp and she noticed she was no longer naked and covered with goop. She had on blue jeans. Comfortable ones at that. She stood up and looked down at herself. Her shirt wasn't a shirt at all. It was a light blue tube top. Great. Now she was a whore on an alien ship. Just what she needed now. She was also bare foot. If anything on this ship made a comment about being pregnant and bare foot, she was going to kill it. Not sure why she thought of that, but it made sense to her.

Aleris rubbed her eyes. They still stung slightly from earlier. Opening them again, she noticed the door in front of her. She took another step forward and it opened. Huh, she thought, Star Wars all over again.

She stuck her head outside. A long, dark hallway going perpendicular to the room; down both ways, deserted.

Aleris was hesitant to leave the room that she awoke in. What if the Jamaicans wanted her to stay there so they could come back for her later? What if they wanted to eat her? Oh, no. She was letting her mind wander again.

That's it. Aleris was thinking far too much for her own good. She left the room and walked down into the darkness. She hoped she was doing the right thing.

xXx

Hiram walked down the long dark alone. He just had a talking to by his Leader. Xerxes didn't fully approve of bringing the Ooman Female onto his ship. He still considered the Pyode Amedha to be a dangerous specie. He thought them only worthy of giving birth to the Kainde Amedha. Hiram was interested in this female. That is why he kept her.

He knew she wasn't completely Ooman. She was quicker than the average Pyode Amedha and she had the ability to control the Kainde Amedha. When the Queen attacked them inside the white building, she bled acid. Hiram just had to study her now. Xerxes told him the story about the Queen Kainde Amedha/Pyode Amedha hybrid, but he still wasn't sure if this Ooman Female was that hybrid. He always thought a Kainde Amedha/Pyode Amedha would look more like a Kainde Amedha than a Pyode Amedha.

Hiram turned into the door which he put the female. He had to put her in this room so the other Yautja guards wouldn't take her to a holding cell somewhere where he couldn't go. The door opened and he stepped in.

Oh great. The Female was gone.

Hiram quickly stepped out of the room and looked own both ways of the hallway. There was no sign of anyone anywhere. He started to run down the rest of the hallway. He past hallway after hallway, but there was no sign of the Ooman Female or a fellow Yautja. Up ahead he saw a door was open and a light was on. He could ask whoever was in there if they saw the Ooman. He skid to a stop and looked into the room.

It was the science examination room. It was pretty much open space except for the walls. On them were computer equipment and several specimens in jars of coloured liquid. Inside was the Female! She was studying one of the jars.

He noticed the clothes he had gotten for her fit her small frame well. They were tight on her, but it would have to do for now. She was lucky he had picked up her size of clothes while on a scientific mission some months earlier.

He walked into the room. The door shut behind him. Aleris heard this and looked over to him. As soon as she saw him, she knew she was in trouble. Her Jamaican friend walked up to her. She decided not to move away from or else he may kill her for disobeying him. But would she know what he meant when he just threw her into a room on a huge alien ship? This place is freaking awesome!

He came up right in front of her. She had to strain her neck to look up at him. He didn't wear his mask, but she didn't mind too much. He was starting to grow on her. He brought one hand up extending only one finger. He waved it back and forth, telling her she did something wrong.

The door to the room opened again and two more Yautja walked into the room. Instead of the warrior garbs worn by Hiram, they wore white robes, showing they were scientists. The saw Hiram had the Pyode Amedha behind him.

They knew he was the one that brought the Pyode Amedha onto the ship. They had thanked him earlier for disobeying a direct command from Xerxes to bring her on. They wanted to study her, as well as Hiram. The only time they had studied a Pyode Amedha was a dead one that, most of the time, had their head or huge chunk blown clear off. But now they had a living, breathing one to study, to touch.

The three Yautja bowed at one another. One of the scientists began to speak first.

"Hiram. May we have permission to study the female?"

To Aleris, it was nothing more than clicks and whistles.

"You may" Hiram answered the Scientist. He took a quick look behind him to the female. "Be careful," He added. "She's quite the ferocious little thing. She may attack if provoked"

The scientists clicked happily. Hiram turned back to the Female. He took his finger and waved it back and forth at her.

Aleris knew he was probably still angry at her for leaving her room. He was telling her to stay and she was going to listen to him. He probably brought in two of his buddies to make sure she stayed put. She nodded to her friend.

Hiram clicked to the Female and rubbed her head harshly. He left the room. Leaving the female with the two scientists.

Aleris was now really uncomfortable and it worsened as the two scientists walked closer to her.


	7. Chapter 5 B

xXx

Several hours had past and Hiram had gotten bored of relaxing. He left his room and headed for the science examination room. While still walking down the hallway, he noticed the door was open. He was still a ways away from the room so he pondered why it was the door was opened. He guessed one of the scientists was about to leave.

He came closer to the room, he heard some rustling around. A loud scream escaped from the room. It wasn't one of his fellow Yautja, so he guessed it was the Ooman. Then he wondered why she would be screaming.

One of the scientists flew out of the room and hit the opposite wall. Hiram ran up to the room and looked in. The other Yautja was knocked out. Above him, a metal vent tile was falling off. He went back to the Yautja that was thrown out of the room. He grabbed his arm and pulled him off the ground harshly.

"What did you do to the female?" He barked

"I guess we provoked her…" The Yautja passed out

Hiram threw him to the ground. This was great. The Female had escaped into the ceiling and now could be anywhere in the ship. The scientists could have done an array of things to provoke her.

Hiram stood silently, collecting himself. He walked down to the Xerxes's room. This was going to take a while for Hiram to explain.

xXx

Aleris scampered through a ventilation pipe. It was pitch black inside of it, but for some reason, Aleris could see perfectly. She looked down each vent she came up before moving on. Most of the rooms were empty or had sleeping Jamaicans in them. They all looked alike, but then again, so did Humans, so she had no room to talk.

She came up to another vent. There were Jamaicans talking to one another. After a closer inspection, Aleris realized one of them was her friend. This made Aleris feel better for some reason.

He was talking with another Jamaican. He seemed of higher rank. He wore a robe that was a crimson colour. They clicked and whistled at one another. She stayed still, watching them carefully.

Hiram stood before his Leader. He was trying to explain the lot of problems that had arisen since bringing the Female on board the ship.

Xerxes was more than just a little angry. He had allowed Hiram to bring the Pyode Amedha Female under the conditions that he kept a close eye on her. Now she was running free. This was just great.

"Where is the female?" Xerxes spoke in a bold, demanding tone

"I don't know. I left her in the care of the scientists. They must have provoked her in some way…"

Aleris tried to figure out what they were saying, but came up with nothing. She relied on body language to figure it out. From what she saw, her friend was getting a talking to. A big one.

Much like a lion coming into a foreign pride, Hiram kept his head lowered. The other, higher, Jamaican was obviously dominant. Oh how much Aleris wanted to go down there and smack the other guy. Not that it would much good, mind you, but it would make her feel better.

The other Jamaican left quickly. Her friend just stood there, doing nothing with his back to her. She decided to take this chance and make things right.

She quietly lifted up vent and took it off its base. She slid it across from her and looked back down the hole. Her friend was still facing away from her. She flipped her legs in front of her and slid them out of the hole, being ever so careful not to make a noise. She jumped out of the hole, landing on the floor gently and with little sound.

Hiram turned quickly at the sound. It was the Female. This was wonderful. He walked up to her and grabbed both of her arms. He was going to yell at her for getting him into so much trouble, but chose not to when she smiled at him.

He read about this behavior in his textbooks. The Pyode Amedha would smile at those things which they favored. They would often smile to fellow Pyode Amedha that they had a special relationship towards. This meant she trusted him and liked him enough to find him in the ventilation shaft. This was a good sign.

The automatic door behind Hiram opened. He spun around and met Xerxes head on.

"What are you still doing here?" He barked out

Xerxes looked next to Hiram. The Female was standing by him. But, how did she get into here?

Aleris hid behind her friend. She saw this Jamaican with the piercing stare and obvious higher status among the Jamaicans. Oh yes. This is what they would call 'In shit over your head'. She finally found her friend and now she was going to die by way of deadly stare.

Xerxes barked at Hiram. Hiram knew that he was in trouble, but not as much as he was before. He wanted the Ooman Female moved into a Quarantine cell until he could figure out what to do with her. Hiram objected to this. Hiram was always a bit slow.

Hiram tried to pull the whole ethicalities issues and tried to convince Xerxes that she might be the Kainde Amedha/Pyode Amedha hybrid. That would mean they would have to keep her around and study her. Xerxes refused flatly, stating that she may escape again. Hiram assured him that she would not flee if he were doing to examination. Xerxes refused again.

Aleris knew something was going down. Hiram showed the body language of a little kid who was trying to sweet talk a parent into giving them a cookie. That never worked. She guessed she was the topic of conversation. She didn't want to be taken away and sent back to the planet full of dragons. Things had just gotten too weird for her there. She eyed the ventilation shaft while still keeping her friend between her and the uglier Jamaican.

Xerxes made a deal with Hiram. He would only put the Ooman female into Quarantine until they could figure out a way to keep her from getting away again. Of course Xerxes was lying, but Hiram believed him. Xerxes wanted to figure out how the Oomans made her, then make more and possibly use her to make The Hunt with the Kainde Amedha more challenging, if that was even possible. Yes, she may be useful to use for their own needs.

The ugly Jamaican took a step closer to Aleris and her friend. She was confident he wouldn't be able to get her, since she was behind her friend, but he moved out of the way. He moved closer, his hand outstretched for her. There was no way she was going back. She turned and jumped up, grabbing the lip of the vent. Swinging her feet up first, she slid into it and scampered off.

Xerxes growled in frustration. This couldn't be happening! Not on his ship. He shot a look to Hiram. He was laughing at him, deep down; he could feel it. Xerxes spun around and left the room in an angry rage.

Hiram chuckled to himself. It would take them a little while to find the female. That would give him enough time to find the Female and keep her safe.

xXx

Hiram walked down one of the numerous dark hallways in the ship. They were still orbiting Ee-arth. Hiram didn't know why, but he didn't want to question his leader again. He may be a Blooded Warrior, but Xerxes would not hesitate to bring him down a few notches. Some fellow Yautja ran past him.

"They caught the Ooman" One of the Yautja said as they passed him

Hiram ran after them. He couldn't believe they caught her so quickly. He made it to the Quarantine cell in little time. The other Yautja had broken off to go somewhere else. Hiram went to the Cell. He went up to the door and looked into the cell window.

The female was inside, chains draping off of her body as if it were another skin that were all attached to the floor surrounding her. She was sitting on her legs, staring up to the ceiling. There was no way she was getting out, he knew she knew.

'A Captive Queen…' He though to himself

Xerxes walked up to Hiram. He noticed that Hiram was looking into the cell.

"I had to do it, Hiram" Xerxes said in a calm tone this time

"What are you going to do with her?" Hiram was not all there. He didn't want to see the female in this situation

"We may have to send her back…" Hiram interrupted Xerxes

"What?" Hiram spun around and took a threatening step towards Xerxes. "Why?"

"She is a risk we cannot take"

Xerxes tried to convince Hiram that it was priority to get her off. She was a security risk. She could snap and turn every Kainde Amedha within her reach against them. That would not be good. Hiram was being stubborn and wouldn't let Xerxes dispose of her.

Some alarms started to go off and red lights flashed. A computerized Yautja voice began to talk over intercoms.

'Kainde Amedha loose on ship' It said over and over again

Xerxes looked to Hiram. They must have picked up some Kainde Amedha while getting him and the female.

"We can use the female to get rid of the Kainde Amedha" Hiram said

Xerxes paused. He didn't like the idea, but he didn't have much of a choice. "Fine! Just keep a close eye on her!"

Xerxes ran down a dark hallway. Hiram was left alone with the female. He looked back to the female through the window. She was looking back at him, staring intently. Hiram could almost feel her gaze penetrate his soul. It was time she earned her place among his fellow Yautja.


	8. Chapter 6 A

Chapter 6

Da'dtou-di: Small Knife (Feminine)

Hiram got the female out of her chains quickly. He walked her down a dark hallway quickly, keeping a stern hand on her shoulder the entire time. They reached the end of the hallway and with a hard jerk to one side; she was forcibly turned to go down another dark hallway. When they reached a large, empty room, Hiram stopped her.

The room was lit by only a few bright lights. They did their job, illuminating the entire room. There was only one other door and a couple of ventilation shafts. A lone chair sat in the middle of the empty room.

Aleris looked around the room. The Ugly Jamaican was there along with another, less ugly one. Her friend shoved her harshly into the lonely chair and then walked to his friends. She studied them. They stood side by side, watching her ever so closely. They were using her, but for what, she wasn't sure.

She brought her feet up to the seat of the chair and wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees. She was confident that her friend would not put her in danger. All she could do now was wait until she found out why they brought her here.

The voices. They returned to her once again. Strange, she thought to herself, how could they be here? She put one foot back onto the floor. She had to be prepared when the dragons came. A fight would surely ensue and she wouldn't want to be caught in the middle of it. She would much rather prefer being a spectator.

Hiram and Xerxes watched the female closely. They knew that the Ooman Female could sense when the Kainde Amedha came near; they just didn't know how. The Ooman female looked around the room carefully. They stood there, muscles tense, weapons ready.

There. A scratching noise in one of the ventilation shafts. The Kainde Amedha had found the room with them in it. The Yautja just hoped that the Female would not send the Kainde Amedha to kill them. Such a small room would prove difficult in a hand-to-hand combat situation.

One of the wingless dragons peeked out of the shaft. It slowly looked around, hissing at the sight of the Jamaicans. Another dragon appeared in one of the other shafts. They hissed at one another. Aleris heard them talking. They were trying to figure out how to get their Queen out. She still didn't know who this Queen person was they kept talking about.

One of the dragons jumped out of the shaft. It landed on the floor with little noise. It slowly crept slowly towards Aleris. She sat there, dead still.

'You are safe. We are glad' it breathlessly said to her

Aleris slowed her breathing in an effort to calm down. It wasn't going to kill her. Yet.

She reached out one hand to the Kainde Amedha. The Yautja stood on edge. They didn't have time to formulate a plan with the Ooman female. She could be doing anything right now. She could even turn against them and send the Kainde Amedha after them. Hiram hoped that his new found relationship with the female would sway her to not kill them.

The dragon nuzzled Aleris' hand. She moved her hand over the elongated head of the creature. It hissed in satisfaction. The other dragon jumped down from the shaft along with a third one. The came up to Aleris, checking her over. They spoke calmly to her.

They wanted to take her back to the hive, but knew they were in space now. They would have to either try to get back to the planet with the other Queen or set up a new hive somewhere else.

Aleris stood up slowly. The dragons surrounded her. The Jamaicans were just seven feet away from them. She understood that these dragons would protect her at all costs. She wasn't trying to understand why they were doing this. She gave up on that a while ago. She turned to the three Jamaicans.

"Let me stay with you and I will let you kill my dragons" She said in a strong voice

The third Yautja was the only one with a face mask on. He had the translator on and clicked what the Ooman female said to Xerxes. He looked at the female. She was willing to use her power to kill him. This would be a problem if he refused her. Did he have a choice?

Aleris took his silence as a no. She yelled out at the dragons. "Go!"

The three dragons jumped up back to the shafts and disappeared within them. Hiram looked at the female. She wanted to stay with them. She wanted to be with them always. He couldn't blame her though. Who in their right mind would want to go back to a planet full of several billion Kainde Amedha? Not him, that's for sure.

xXx

Aleris was returned to the Quarantine cell and back into the numerous chains. She didn't care much though. As long as she was in there and the Jamaicans were out there, she was safe.

Hiram watched her closely. He wanted her to stay with them and he knew she wanted to stay with them as well. If only he could convince Xerxes that she was essential organism that they had to hang onto. They could use her to save fellow Yautja in danger from Kainde Amedha. They could use her to make the Kainde Amedha breed faster. But most o fall, they could study her in an effort to make the Pyode Amedha stronger as a whole.

Xerxes came behind Hiram and set his hand on Hiram's shoulder. Hiram did not stir, but merely clicked. Xerxes understood. Hiram had grown attached to this Ooman female. But he couldn't blame him any.

Hiram was an only child and his mother died when he was young. A needless casualty in The Hunt. Hiram was forced into the field of Pyode Amedha Study by his father. He was trying to protect Hiram and it worked, to a point. Hiram was lonely and didn't have the love of a mother. Since his father had forbidden him to participate in The Hunt, Hiram was unable to mate and thus, remain an outcast with little honor. His father died not long after he began studying to be a scientist. His father was trying to move a Kainde Amedha Queen to one of the shifting Pyramids. Now Hiram was completely alone.

"The Kainde Amedhas have disabled our image sensors. We need her to get them into the airlock so we may send them out into space before they kill a warrior" Xerxes said softly

"She won't do it unless you let her stay with us"

Xerxes sighed deeply. He was hoping he wouldn't say that. Xerxes was hesitant to bring the Ooman female aboard his ship and now there was almost no way to get rid of her. But she may prove herself worthy to live among them. Maybe. First she would have to rid the ship of the Kainde Amedha pests.

"Make sure she understands that if she stays with us, that she will do as I say" With that said, Xerxes walked away

Hiram turned and watched him leave. This was good news. The female would stay with them and help them as well.

He reached to the control panel and pressed one of the buttons, opening the door. The female turned her head slowly to see him. When she saw him, she smiled sweetly at him. Hiram held up a rectangular device. It was a translator.

Hiram clicked into it.

The voice that came out was computerized. It sounded like a British guy with a chest cold trying to sing soprano.

"Help us and you may stay"

Aleris was surprised. The first, almost human, sounds she had heard in some time. She smiled and nodded to her friend. She was glad they had some way of communicating now besides body language. It was starting to get boring, talking to a bunch of walls and all.

Hiram made haste taking the chains off of the female's body. He helped her up off the floor and the two ran off towards the Docking Bay.

xXx

Xerxes stood in the Docking Bay. He was waiting patiently for Hiram and the Ooman Female to come in. He expected it to some time since the Pyode Amedha were known to be stubborn at times.

Not far from him were four, smaller Yautja. They had just begun to study to be scientists in the field of the Pyode Amedha. Many of the Scientists in the field now were old and ready to retire from the examination of the Pyode Amedha. They needed fresh blood to take over the heavy manual labor. This was an excellent opportunity for these young Yautja to view a Pyode Amedha up close with being alive and not trying to kill them.

Hiram slowed is jogging when he entered the docking bay. He stopped and gave a slight bow to Xerxes.

"Where is the female?" Xerxes asked

The sound of light foot steps were followed by a thud sound. The female had not been paying attention and ran full force into Hiram. Hiram barely moved when she made contact. She fell backwards to the ground and laid there silently for several seconds.

Hiram turned and with one hand, lifted her completely off the ground and set her back down onto the floor. He guided her to face the group of young Yautja.

Aleris saw this group of not quite as big Jamaicans. They were several inches shorter and much slimmer than the ugly Jamaican but that was still bigger than she was. She tried to take a step back, but her friend placed his hands on her shoulders. He rubbed her shoulders slightly in a reassuring way. She sighed and stood still.

The young group of Yautja took note of the visual appearance of the Pyode Amedha Female. She came up only to Hiram's chest. Her pale skin stood out against the green and beige of Hiram's.

"It's time to get the Kainde Amedha off my ship" The British guy with a chest cold said again

"Kainde Amedha?" Aleris asked out load. She paused for a second and asked, "Do you mean the dragons?"

The ugly Jamaican nodded. This was great. Just one last thing to do and she could relax for five minutes without getting a heart attack. Her friend pushed her forward gently to the front of the airlock.

The four Yautja scientists stepped to the back of the docking bay, quietly observing everything she did. Hiram let go of her shoulders and stepped away from her. She turned her head to give a glance to him, but turned back when the scratching noise of the Kainde Amedha was heard through the shafts. The four Yautja waiting impatiently to see the Pyode Amedha female interact with the deadly Kainde Amedha with being torn limb from limb.

Finally. A Kainde Amedha poked its head through a shaft opening. It hissed at the sight of all the Yautja. It jumped out of the shaft, landing softly and jolted across the floor towards the elder.

Aleris shouted at it to stop. It stopped just inches from the elder. The dragon waved its tail behind it, waiting for its Queen to give it the order to kill the Jamaican.

"Come here" The female said softly

She extended her hand towards the black beast. It turned away from the Yautja. It jumped out at her, landing softly in front of her. It kept its head lowered, rubbing its long, shiny head against her leg lovingly.

The other two dragons slowly exposed their heads from the shafts. They saw the third one there, with their Queen.

They flew out of the shafts for the female. They wanted to go after all the Yautja that were standing nearby. Their Queen told them not to, so they stood by her.

She motioned them into the open airlock. They hesitated, but did as she asked when she stamped her foot at them. Slowly, they walked into it, one by one, unsure of why she wanted them in there.

As soon as the tail of the last Kainde Amedha was inside the air lock, Hiram reached out to the control panel and pressed one of the buttons. The door closed quickly between the Ooman female and the Kainde Amedha. They roared and began to viciously attack the door. Xerxes typed in a few things into the computers next to the air lock and the door on the other side of the Kainde Amedha opened, propelling them out into space.

Aleris watched the dragons fly off into space. Their screams could still be heard for a short time. She turned around to see the four small Jamaicans standing in front of her, clip boards in hand. This made her very uncomfortable. She looked to her friend for some sort of answer.

He, in turn, clicked something to the small Jamaicans.

"You can examine her later" He told them

Hiram reached for the female's arm and pulled her out of the docking bay.


	9. Chapter 6 B

xXx

Xerxes stood on his bridge yet again. He still though about the female. She took care of the Kainde Amedha so easily. She did her part and now he had to keep his end of the deal. But maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought. He could use her to train his scientists and unblooded warriors. She could also give them a look into the daily lives of the Pyode Amedha and explain the many aspects of their life which the Yautja did not fully understand.

But she was a Hybrid herself. She was the first and only one of her kind. She was not at place anywhere. His blooded warriors may want to kill her, wanting to add another trophy to their belt or just because she is not one of them. It would be interesting to see how daily life on the ship would change with her among them.

A sharp beeping brought Xerxes out of his thoughts. A Yautja typed in a few things into one of the computers and spun around his chair so he was facing Xerxes.

"Sir. We are receiving a Yautja distress signal"

"From where?"

"It's from the Triple Moon Clan. They crash landed on a planet infested with Kainde Amedha that is only a few thousands miles away. Only two are left and they are requesting immediate rescue"

"Do it"

The Yautja turned back around and went back to typing on a computer. Xerxes walked to a communication device and pressed a button, opening a channel to another device elsewhere on the ship.

xXx

Hiram sat in his sleeping quarters. At some point of time, when he was taking the female to her sleeping quarters, they got separated. All he knew was that she was behind him when he turned a corner then was gone. He figured that sooner or later the female would turn up and he could go get her out of a fight with another Yautja or fetch her out of the ventilation system.

He chuckled to himself. Being so small, the female could fit where the grown Yautja couldn't, making it very easy for her to slip into the vents or some unknown crack and disappear until they used their heat sensors to find her. But even then she could slip away, being as quick and agile as a Kainde Amedha. Given the proper training and she could probably take down a full grown Yautja. It helps to be of mixed blood. Well, for her anyway. Once she becomes more confident, she'll be hell on wheels.

A beeping sound filled the room. Hiram hit a button on the wall next to his bed. It opened the link to the bridge.

"Hiram. We're heading out to help some fallen Warriors from the Triple Moon Clan. We're going to need the female for this mission. Get into some sort of armor that fits her and equip her with some weapons which she can use" Xerxes said

"I'll be happy to once I find her" Hiram said with a chuckle

"You don't have the female!" Xerxes was both surprised and angry

"No. I was taking her to her sleeping quarters and then she was gone. She's bound to show up sooner or later" Hiram tried to reassure Xerxes

"If one of the other Yautja doesn't get a hold of her first. They could kill her!"

"I have confidence that she can stay alive"

"Get out there and look for her!" Xerxes shouted before closing the channel

xXx

Aleris walked down a dark hallway alone. She had been busy looking at things on the walls when her friend was taking her somewhere, but she had lost him. She walked around aimlessly, trying to find someone to help her. She came up to a hallway intersection. She looked down both hallways.

No sign of any life. This was just great. Now she was lost and couldn't find anyone to ask directions from. She could just hop into the vent shafts again and just crawl around until she found another Jamaican, but for some reason that seemed unwise.

On this ship, she sensed a some what testosterone environment. That meant that this place was full of men. Now, they are alien men. Alien men that have too many hormones raging through their bodies and would probably love to kill her for one reason or another. It may not be wise for her to ask for directions from one of the men.

She couldn't double back either, because she didn't know where to double back to. All the hallways looked the same. Aleris put her back to one of the walls and slid down to the floor. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She was lost and couldn't ask for directions in fear of death.

She could just set off some sort of alarm. That would get some Jamaicans here. But for the wrong reason. They would probably kill her for disturbing some bizarre ritual knighting ceremony or something like that.

What to do…what to do…

She stood up again. She was getting kind of scared on this alien ship now. So many subtle sounds all around her. She really did hate that. That always meant that the killer was near by. Just waiting for their victims to walk by them or turn their back to them.

Whoa. Aleris had obviously seen one too many horror movies in her time. Oh yeah, she was going to scare the shit out of herself before she found her friend again.

She turned and faced the wall, putting both hands flat against it and leaning into it. She had to keep her mind focused and her thoughts straight. No thinking about the boogieman and wondering if he tastes like cotton candy.

She looked at the wall in front carefully. There was some language written on it. Strange, Aleris thought. It was nothing more than a bunch of lines pointed in various directions. Aleris remembered seeing something like this somewhere before. But where…

Oh yes, now she remembered. She saw it on one of her numerous video games. Video game designers would always create a language to fit the story line. The players would have to learn it to understand fully what was going on.

If Aleris could just find her friend, and maybe a piece of paper and a pen, she could create a legend of what each symbol meant. Then there would be no stopping her from knowing what it said. But she would have to find her friend first.

Damn! She was stuck. She hit the wall, right next to where the lettering was, hard. It hurt her fist, but it was a good hurt. A little red light flashed on not soon after Aleris had exerted her anger at the wall. She thought it would send a signal to one of the Jamaicans. That would be bad. She took a step back, looking all around her for something to move.

Nothing did. In front of her though, a piece of the wall fell slowly down, exposing a square hole. Inside, a motorized tray moved outward towards Aleris. She stared at it, not sure of what it was doing. Then it stopped when fully extended and the little red light turned off. Aleris took a step closer to the tray.

On it laid a knife. It was a good size dagger that was serrated at the base. The knife, including the handle, was probably a good foot long. Below the knife was a little plaque that stated "Da'dtou-di". Now if only Aleris could understand what that meant.

Aleris just couldn't bear it. She picked the knife up. It wasn't proportional to the rest of her, but she didn't care. It was a knife!

A roar echoing through the hallways took Aleris' attention from the knife. A Jamaican was somewhere close by. She looked down all of the hallways. Nothing…yet. She put the knife in the back of her pants, not having anywhere else to put it. She jumped up on to the tray that was still out and jumped up, hitting a ventilation shaft cover and knocking out.

It made a loud metal bang when it hit the floor. Aleris jumped onto the tray again and grabbed onto the edge of the hole. She swung her feet up and slid into the shaft. She quickly began to crawl down the shaft.

She was going to learn these shafts better than the hallways. Oh well. Maybe if she followed the shafts far enough, she'd find her friend or the really ugly Jamaican. But, if she just so _happen_ to stumble upon a nice chicken dinner, she wouldn't mind stopping for a few minutes.

xXx

Hiram still lay in his sleeping quarters. He wasn't going to go out into the ship and look for the female. No, he felt that if he stayed stationary, she would find him.

Hiram exhaled slowly. This female defied everything he had learned. She wasn't afraid of the Yautja. Ok, well, maybe she was afraid them, but she wasn't afraid of him. He liked that thought. He had his own personal specimen to study and train. It was quiet in his quarters. All he could hear was the slight hum of the computer sensors and a faint thumping sound.

Hiram sat up on his bed. A thumping sound? It stopped shortly after he sat up.

A slight squeak sound was heard. Then it happened. All Hiram saw was a blur of blue falling out of the ventilation shaft. Hiram shot up from his bed and pulled out a knife from his waist. He relaxed quickly once he realized who it was. The female decided to drop in on him.

She flipped her long brown hair behind her shoulder. She looked up at Hiram with some panic, until she realized who it was.

"Friend!" She said with much happiness

She jumped up and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He put his blade away, knowing she was no serious threat. He put his hands on his her shoulders, slowly applying pressure in an effort to get her off of him without hurting her. She held on strong, but she lost her grip on him and fell back onto the floor.

She looked up to him and began to laugh. Hiram was confused by this. Why would she be laughing? He just pushed her to the floor. He certainly wouldn't be laughing. He'd be killing whoever did it. The female stood up again. She reached behind her and retrieved a Da'dtou-di.

"I borrowed this Da-tow-die"

Hiram chuckled to himself. The female was trying to talk in their tongue. It wasn't even close to the actual word, but a valiant effort nonetheless. He took the knife from her carefully.

Time was running out. It was going to take a while to get the female suited up with some sort of body armor and get her a weapon that could be used to kill Kainde Amedha effectively. He grabbed her arm and tugged her harshly out of his room.

xXx

Xerxes stood in front of a large window that let him see out into the great emptiness of space. He was waiting for word from Hiram. He knew Hiram had the female now. He also knew it would be awhile for Hiram to fit the female with some sort of body armor. Then he would have to find a weapon for her. Yeah, it would take forever most likely.

The automatic door behind Xerxes opened and appeared Hiram. Xerxes gave him a look, asking him if he had the female. Hiram didn't have to answer him. A unfamiliar clicking sound followed Hiram as he walked towards Xerxes. He noticed black boots following Hiram.

It was none other than Aleris. She stood behind her friend, not wanting to tick off one of the Jamaicans for being there. Her friend had given her different clothes to wear. For some reason, Aleris got the distinct feeling that he was preparing her. She had on a black corset that had red embroidered designs all over it. She also has on a black skirt. Not quiet her size, but close enough. She also had killer black boots that went up to her knees on. They had a slight heal to them. Aleris was now Xena: Warrior Princess!

Xerxes eyed the female. She looked like she was ready for a battle in such an Ooman fashion. Xerxes looked back to Hiram.

"Does she have a weapon?" Xerxes asked calmly

"Not yet. I brought her here so you could approve her outfit" Hiram said, pointing to the female

Aleris had walked over to one of the Jamaicans that was busy typing on a computer. She noticed to computerized language from on the wall. The Jamaican looked over to Aleris, who was leaning over his shoulder, and hissed loudly. Aleris took the hint and backed off.

Hiram watched the female, chuckling to himself. This female was a very humorous character.

"Take her to the weapon room and fit her with a spear or something of some use to her. We can't have her be defenseless on the infested planet," Xerxes paused. He looked over to the female who had moved to another Yautja. "We don't know if her power to persuade the Kainde Amedha works outside her bloodline"

Hiram nodded. He understood it was a very real possibility that the female could die while saving the stranded Yautja. He thought for a moment. He could equip her with one of the firing weapons they took from a dead Pyode Amedha some years ago. That may be helpful. Xerxes saw Hiram thinking deeply.

"What are you thinking about?"

Hiram looked up to his Leader. The female moved on to another Yautja to pester.

"What if we gave the female one of the firing weapons we took form a dead Pyode Amedha?"

"Do you think that would help her survive?" Xerxes spoke like a father, questioning his child to better himself

"Perhaps. I should find out if she even knows how to work it. If she doesn't I may have to give her a simple spear since we don't know the complete workings of the weapon"

"Then do it" Xerxes turned around and went back to staring out the window

Hiram nodded, knowing he had won some respect from the Clan. He looked for the female. She was on a different Yautja, not so much bothering him, but hovering.

Aleris looked over the shoulder of yet another Jamaican. She wanted to know what was on the screen. It was the language with the lines that she wanted to know desperately. The Jamaican quickly stood up and spun around to face her, startling Aleris out of her skin. The Jamaican reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her harshly towards him.

He clicked something to her. She figured he was either warning her to back off or giving off a one liner before he killed her. He slowly lifted her off the floor with her one arm. He brought her head level with his. He looked into her eyes. Aleris could feel her shoulder slowly starting slide out of place and it was becoming painful. She grabbed his wrist and pulled her body up in an effort to keep her shoulder in place.

Aleris realized the guy wasn't going to let her go. She had to fight her way out. She brought both of her feet up and held up her body with her feet around the top of his arm.

The Yautja watched the Pyode Amedha female closely. He had no idea what she was doing. It's not like she was anywhere near strong enough to fight off his grip on her arm. Hiram also watched. He was curious to see what the female would do.

Aleris wasn't sure if this would do anything, but it was worth a shot. She brought up one foot and, with all the strength in her leg, she rammed her metal heel into the Jamaicans third eye. The Jamaican was knocked out cold and fell to the floor. Aleris landed on her feet and took several steps back. All the Jamaicans in the room stopped doing what they were doing and stared at her. She looked around the room liked a scared cat.

She decided to cover herself quickly. "He started it!" She pointed to him

Xerxes gave Hiram a look. "I think the female can handle herself well. Just make sure she has a weapon with her at all times" Xerxes went back to the window

Hiram nodded and looked back to the female. She wasn't scared of the other Yautja, but rather, of what might happen to her for defending herself. Hiram only hoped that she would figure out that they reward such acts of bravery.

xXx

This was heaven. Aleris looked at several models of guns laid out before her. She looked them over again and again, trying to pick the right one for her. She couldn't believe it. Her friend was just going to let her pick one out for her to use.

Hiram stood by the automatic door, studying the female as she went over the weapons again and again. He clicked at her. The room's translator picked it up and the British man said what Hiram clicked.

"Do you know how to use these weapons?" He asked

"Yes!" Aleris said as she grabbed a gun and spun around to meet him. "This is where I tie my shirt around my head and shoot from the waist!"

Aleris smiled at her remark. Her friend could only cock his head at her. She knew he didn't get it, being an alien and all. She turned around and put the gun back. She picked up another gun after not too long. It was a sleek Uzi. She also picked up the harness that came with it and quickly put it on.

Hiram marveled at how much she knew. She could really clue them into her specie. Well, one of them anyway.

The female slid the gun into the black harness and looked to him. She smiled at him. He walked up to her, placing his clawed hand on her shoulder. She had to crank her neck to look up at him.

"What's your name? I'm really getting tired of calling you 'my friend' all the time" She said flatly

Hiram chuckled at her. That was true. Neither of them had had time to ask the other's name. How informal of them.

"Hiram," he paused a second, then continued. "And yours?"

Aleris laughed at the British guy. He was going to start getting annoying here really quick.

"It's Aleris. Don't ask, please. My parents were stoned when they named me"

Hiram cocked his head. She used the adjective 'stoned'. He had no idea what that meant.

"Stoned?" He asked

"Oh, um…they had been using drugs"

Hiram nodded. He pondered her name for a second. Aleris. It sounded almost Yautja. She may have been named that if the Pyode Amedha had engineered her. Xerxes called out over the intercom.

"Attention warriors. We will be landing on the infested planet in not too long. Prepare yourselves accordingly. Bring the Female, Hiram" The link was closed

Hiram looked down at the female. She wasn't scared, but stood bravely. She knew her time in the spotlight was coming. She had already proven herself somewhat to Hiram's Clan, but this could cement her position of honor among them. If she helped the fallen Yautja and made it out alive, she would never be second guessed again. She would be a blooded warrior.

But she would have to survive the mission first.


	10. Note from the Author

Ok, I understand there has been some confusion with how I write and the language I use. Now, I will explain so you may better understand my writing in the fanfiction.

I have a mixed tongue that confuses some people, but is very common within my family. It's a combination of translated German, the French, Spanish, and Greek mixture which is known as Puerto Rican, and East Coast (New England) dialect all mixed together.

Now (for DarkXeno), the part where it says "The other two dragons slowly exposed their heads from the shafts" means, in basic terms, they poked their heads out of the shafts.

Now, as brought up by SPECIALGUY, yes, Aleris has Acid blood and I am very aware of the whole powerful base to counteract the acidity science thing. She has the powerful base in her skin and organs. It has fused with her DNA so its there without being seen.

Also, the Oomans didn't have to possess instruments to contain the Acid blood of the Kainde Amedha. The Yautja who had it before the Oomans took only the DNA of the Queen Kainde Amedha and not the hemoglobin that makes the blood Acidic.

Does this help any of you? Please if any of you have any questions about anything, please e-mail me. I enjoy talking to you guys and getting feedback.

Except you DarkXeno…you haunt me at no turn. Now, if you were a signed person, I might not care so much, but you really need to contact me. I'm asking nicely…


	11. Chapter 7 A

Chapter 7

Eryx: Ear-ix

Tangoroa: Tan-go-row-a

Xerxes and Hiram stood on either side of Aleris in the bridge of the ship. They looked out the window to a reddish planet. This was the infested planet that had the fallen warriors.

Aleris was now starting to get scared. The ugly Jamaican clued her into some of the little details of their world. Mostly some of their words and other little things. She now knew they were not kinky Jamaicans with cool wrist guards, but rather, they were a warrior race that lived to hunt other species and used advanced technology to do it and called themselves 'Yautja'. Xerxes also gave her the technical words for the dragons and herself along with his name.

Xerxes noticed the female's breathing changed. He knew she was becoming scared. He set his hand on her shoulder, trying to relieve some of the fear. She looked up to him with somber eyes. They softened and she smiled at him. She looked back out of the window. Xerxes now understood why Hiram had become attached to her. She had come to accept the Yautja and face them with courage.

"Sir" A Yautja behind them said. Only Xerxes turned his head. "We will be arriving at the planet soon"

Xerxes nodded to the Yautja officer. He looked back to the female. She had two of the firing weapons on either side of her body in a harness. They waited patiently for their time. He understood that if the female went out and fought the Kainde Amedha and came back alive, she would be a blooded warrior. That would mean she would have a high position of honor within the Clan and would have to have the warrior mark scarred into her skin.

Xerxes took a small set back and examined the female from the back. She had a Da'dtou-di strapped to her leg. That may come in handy if her powers of persuasion didn't work wit the Kainde Amedha of this planet. If not and she didn't make it out alive, then she would have died with honor and would be given a proper burial.

They would soon find out what would come of the female.

xXx

Aleris stood in the airlock of the ship. The time was coming. Xerxes told her that she was to help save two fallen Yautja warriors. Hiram told her that she may become short of breath on the planet Because of the air. It was lower in oxygen and higher in nitrogen that what she was use to. Aleris didn't mind as long as she didn't pass out. Hiram didn't want her to pass out so he put a little computer chip under her corset so he could monitor her vitals from the ship.

This was just great. Just a week ago she was just another normal girl. Now she stood on an alien ship with reptilian warriors around her. She was a hybrid of her own; a cross between a human and a dragon. She was able to talk to these dragons and help the Yautja. There was no turning back now; she had to do as these warriors wanted so she could stay with them.

She had no home now anyway. Earth was infested with the dragons and everyone was going to die. She was just lucky she suffered from depression. She wasn't afraid to die and wasn't afraid of these aliens. Yeah, her life had just made 450 degree turn and she just barely recovered.

The ship jumped slightly, signaling they had landed on the planet. The doors opened and the other Yautja around her ran out of the airlock. She ran out into darkness along with them.

She did not have a helmet like the other Yautja had, so she did not know where the ship was. The only thing she could hear was the sounds of the Yautja running against the ground. Up ahead she saw neon green splatter glowing on the ground and surrounding rocks. She remembered Hiram bleeding green in the empty Walmart and knew they had found the dead warriors. Aleris slowed as her friends went on into the ship.

For some reason, this planet was eerily silent. This set Aleris on edge since there were supposed to be a shit load of Kainde Amedha. She looked around her. She saw nothing. She looked back to the blood. Her friends had gone farther away from her to the ship that probably concealed the fallen warriors.

She started to trop towards the blood, but stopped short when she heard the screams of the Kainde Amedha. They were far away, for the time. She sprinted off towards the ship. She had to warn the others. She grabbed out one of her Uzis, knowing the Kainde Amedha was closing the distance. She skid to a stop, knowing she couldn't make it to the ship in time. Maybe if she shot at the drones that came near, they would realize they were near and get the warriors off the planet.

She held the Uzi still, waiting. She could hear the dragons talking. They wanted to get the Yautja for hosts. Aleris was not going to let that happen. A dragon jumped out from behind a rock. She yelled out for it to stop. It skid to a stop, kicking up dust. It told her that it had a responsibility to its Queen. Only when his Queen died would it follow her orders. It started running again.

Aleris knew she had no choice. She opened fire at the dragon.

The bullets hit the ground, causing the dirt to rise up and conceal the dragon. The bullets hit their mark, despite the cloud. Its scream's. Aleris ignored them, trying to listen for other dragons.

The Yautja warriors could hear the female's shots from inside the ship. They only found two warriors that were alive, but they were just barely. The two warriors grabbed the nearly dead Yautja and slung them over their shoulders. They ran out of the ship towards their ship.

Aleris stood strong. She fired more bullets at the growing number of dragons coming at her. She saw her friends running out of the ship out of the corner of her eye. They ran behind her, silently telling her they were done. She ran sideways with the Yautja, still shooting at the incoming dragons.

They made it to the ship, but Aleris stopped before she could retreat safely inside. There was a Kainde Amedha right behind her. She knew if it got onto the ship, it would kill as many of her new found friends as it could. She had an obligation to them to protect them. After all, they took her in. They treated her with respect.

It ran towards the airlock with lightning speed. Aleris stood strong, facing the cloud of dust behind the dragon. He leaped out at Aleris; not for her, but trying to get past her. Aleris jumped up, grabbing the dragon around its neck. She used all her body weight to pull it down to the ground. He hit the ground hard, but recovered quickly and began to go for the ship again. She wrapped her legs around its body, keeping it down to the ground.

Aleris reached for her Da'dtou-di and took it out. She held it up to the dragon's neck, hoping it would stop going for the ship and run away. It didn't. She pressed the knife into its neck. It screamed out in pain as its acid blood spilled onto the ground.

It continued to claw the ground, trying to get to the ship. She cut into the dragon's neck, sawing into it, trying to get the dragons to stop moving and run away. It kept going. The acid blood ran down Aleris' arm as she continued to saw at the dragon's neck. After not too long, it just stopped moving all together. It fell limp onto of Aleris. She tried to get up, but the beast had her leg pinned.

A Yautja yelled out from the airlock. The ship was preparing to leave the planet, with or without her. Aleris struggled to get up. She ripped the head off the dragon. The weight released from the dragon let Aleris slide her leg free. She got up quickly and ran for the airlock.

xXx

Xerxes waited for the female to get back onto the ship. The female helped his warriors, but did she kill any Kainde Amedha? If she did, she could be scarred as a warrior. But there would have to be evidence of her killing one.

"Sir. We're taking off now" A Yautja behind him said

"What about the female?" Xerxes asked

The intercom in the bridge opened before the Yautja could answer. "We have the female aboard"

Xerxes immediately left the bridge. He walked down several hallways and made it to the airlock in no time. The automatic door opened in front of him and revealed Yautja warriors staring at the female, who was crouched down on the floor. He took another step closer.

The female stood up, slowly, and faced him head on. He noticed that she held in her arms a severed Kainde Amedha head. He also noticed that the blood dripping from the neck had burned a whole into her armor.

Aleris looked down at her hands and noticed she still had the head in her arms. She tried to cover herself quickly.

"I didn't mean to bring in with me!"

Xerxes chuckled to himself. The female just proved herself. He walked over to the female. She looked up to him with scared eyes. He set his hand on her shoulder and clicked to her. He knew she couldn't understand, but the gesture was enough to relieve her.

Xerxes reached down and took the Kainde Amedha head from her. She looked at him with confusion. He couldn't blame her. She didn't know how about honor and keeping the skulls of their prey as trophies.

He motioned to the other Yautja. They came toward Aleris. She didn't know what they were doing, but she was confident that they would hurt her. Maybe just whip her or something like that, but not kill.


	12. Chapter 7 B

xXx

The two fallen Warriors from the Triple Moon Clan lay in the medical room. They were in the pods, but their wounds were not life threatening, so they waited until they were strong enough to walk on their own. Yautja scientists went between the warriors, giving them shots of vitamins and such. The neon green blood covered many rags and used bandages.

The automatic door to the room opened, revealing Aleris. She walked in slowly, checking every part of the room for scientists. She learned that you never come between a Yautja scientist and his work. You'll get thrown across the room if you do that. Aleris would know. That has already happen once.

She saw the two Yautja Warriors. She only guessed that because of all the neon green within the room. She skittered across the floor quietly towards the warriors. She stood beside one of the tables. The table itself went up to her shoulders. She looked the warriors over. They were still asleep.

Xerxes walked into the room behind Aleris. It startled Aleris slightly, but she wasn't fazed. She was almost worried about the warriors. She might be worried more if she knew what was going on.

One of the warriors started to move. Aleris took a step back, bumping onto Xerxes. The warrior sat up painfully slow. He propped himself up with one arm and rubbed his head with the other. Aleris noted the strange scar on his forehead that had two silver dots around it.

Xerxes clicked to the warrior. "How do you feel?"

"I…feel…" Was all he managed to get out

"What happened to the others?"

The warrior couldn't think straight, much less speak or remember anything. Xerxes decided to try another approach.

"What's your name?" He asked smoothly

"Eryx" He said flatly. He looked around the room and found his fellow warrior. He looked him over blurry eyed. "He's Tangoroa"

"Well, Eryx, you can rest now and become strong again. I can wait until you're strong again to explain what happened"

"Who saved us?" He asked quickly. He was about to pass out

"This Pyode Amedha female did most of the work. She killed several Kainde Amedha to make sure you two got out. When you're better, you can have a more formal introduction"

Eryx looked the female over. She was so small and pale. Surely the elder of this Clan could not be telling him the truth. He fell back onto the table, out cold.

Xerxes set his hand on Aleris' shoulder. He knew the two warriors would not fully understand what had happen, but they would know and may become violent towards the female. Until he could straighten everything out, he would have Hiram stay with her at all times.

xXx

The warriors were awake now. They stood on the bridge with Xerxes. Eryx stood higher than Tangoroa and was bigger physically, showing he was older and stronger. Eryx and Tangoroa both had the same symbol of three lines scarred into their foreheads. The only difference was that Eryx had two silver dots on his and Tangoroa had none.

Xerxes informed them that the entire Triple Moon Clan had died on the infested planet except for Eryx and Tangoroa. Neither warrior was talking very much.

"What about the Pyode Amedha you were talking about earlier?" Eryx asked Xerxes

Xerxes went into great detail about Aleris. He explained how she was of both Pyode and Kainde Amedha blood and how she risked her life to save them without any training and little warning. The Moon Warriors voiced their doubt about a Pyode Amedha saving them from Kainde Amedha, much less a female Pyode Amedha. Xerxes would have none of this. He said that they would have to meet her before they would continue this conversation.

The automatic door behind the trio opened. They looked to who walked into the bridge. It was Hiram, walking in slowly. Xerxes noticed immediately that Aleris was following him. He was going to have to lecture that girl sometime in the near future. That was, once he informed her that she was a warrior and was worthy of being scarred. All in due time.

Hiram stopped a few feet away from the warriors. Aleris slowly walked around Hiram, but kept more distant between her and the warriors in case of an attack. Hiram had warned her about Yautja warriors and being saved by Humans. They may attack her, so she tried not to act intimidating.

The two Moon Warriors looked the girl over. She was not scared, just cautious.

"Are you sure she helped save us?" Tangoroa asked

Xerxes nodded slowly. The Moon Warriors continued to study her. Eryx walked over to Aleris. Hiram moved his foot between Eryx and Aleris, threatening Eryx silently. Eryx nodded his head to Hiram, telling him that he understood his gesture. Hiram moved his foot and took a step back.

Xerxes watched this scene play out. He knew that the Warriors from the Triple Moon Clan would not accept the female as their savior if she could not prove herself to them. Funny thing that was. The female had to prove herself to everyone that she met.

Eryx walked towards the Pyode Amedha female slowly. Her body language told him that she was becoming uneasy from his presence; maybe even scared. She stood strong, back straight as he came near. He stopped about a foot from her. He raised one hand and made a fist with it.

Hiram hesitated to move in to help her. She would have to assert her authority has a warrior to new Warriors if she were to survive on the ship.

It happened in a split second. Eryx charged his fist towards Aleris with all of his strength. He wanted to know if his honor had been diminished by being saved by a Pyode Amedha female. She dodged his fist with fluid motion. With no hesitation, she attacked. She hit him hard with a upper hook to his chin. He was caught off guard by the punch and stumbled backwards, eventually falling onto his back.

No one in the bridge moved or made a sound. Eryx slowly got back on his feet, rubbing his chin. Hiram walked up to Aleris and patted her shoulder and nodding to her.

Aleris knew she did good by their standards. If she was going to survive here, she was going to have to kick butt, take names, and be an all around bitch to those who question her strength and Authority. She put her hands on her hips, showing the new Yautja Warrior that she was no longer afraid of him.

Xerxes grinned to himself. The female was now a full fledged Warrior. She killed Kainde Amedha while saving Yautja Warriors from another clan and just showed them that she was unafraid of them. They may be bigger than her physically and stronger than her, but she had something they didn't. She had the courage to affirm her position among the Yautja.

"This is the same Pyode Amedha female that helped save you two" Xerxes said with a chuckle

Eryx stopped rubbing his chin, humiliated by being caught off guard. Tangoroa was scared. If she was brave enough to take on Eryx, then she would have no hesitation to take him on. He was much younger and weaker than Eryx, so he would have to remember to stay on her good side.

Aleris turned her back on the Moon Warriors and walked out of the bridge. She wanted nothing more to do with the new Warriors. Hiram followed behind her quickly.

Xerxes couldn't stop chuckling to himself. Aleris just beat a full fledged Warrior down. Eryx would never live this down.

xXx

Aleris stood in her sleeping quarters with Hiram sitting on her bed. She looked over the Kainde Amedha skull that was given back to her. The only thin that had changed about it was that all of its skin was removed. It was mounted on a shelf across from her bed. She thought it looked strangely adorable, but lonely at the same time. Hiram looked Aleris over. She was of higher rank than him, but she still was kind towards him. He just could not figure her out for the life of him.

The automatic door to her room opened. Aleris and Hiram looked to the figure that entered the room. It was Tangoroa. Aleris only knew this because his body armor was dingy green colour while Hiram's was a brown colour.

He had his head lowered in submission. He did not want to provoke the Pyode Amedha female and be beaten down and humiliated like Eryx was.

Aleris smiled to herself. She didn't understand why this young Yautja Warrior was so afraid of her. He did nothing to her. She decided to try and ease his fears. She slowly walked up to him, trying not to scare him.

"It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you" She said soothingly

She crept closer to Tangoroa. He looked to Hiram; silently pleading for help.

Hiram had to stop from laughing at the young Warrior. He didn't have any reason to be fearful of Aleris. But then again, she _did_ punch a fellow warrior from his clan. But not just any Warrior. Eryx was an honorable Warrior within his clan; earning two silver dots around his scar as recognition. Not only that, but Eryx was at least four times larger than Aleris and she took him on anyway. Tangoroa had good reason to fear her.

But, it's not like she would actually _do_ anything to him anyway.

Aleris stopped a few feet from the scared Yautja. She extended her arm out fully towards Tangoroa. He looked at her hand, perplexed at best, but stood in place.

"It's ok. I don't bite" Aleris said

Tangoroa stood frozen in place. He didn't know what she was doing or what she wanted. He was a Warrior, not a scientist. Did she want his blood or something?

Hiram decided to help the poor boy. Not because he felt sorry for him or because he felt he had an obligation to help him, but because Hiram was about to bust a gut. He stood up from Aleris' bed. He grabbed Tangoroa's wrist and forced his arm up.

Tangoroa tried to resist Hiram, but gave into the wiser Yautja. Hiram took Tangoroa's hand and hooked it with Aleris'. Aleris smiled and gently shook his hand.

"Is this good or bad?" Tangoroa Quietly clicked to Hiram

Hiram chuckled. "She has accepted you among her own"

Tangoroa sighed in relief. At least now he knew he wasn't on her death list now. He would have to make sure to stay on her good side.

The intercom in the room clicked open. "Hiram. Bring the female to the examination room." It clicked off.

Hiram looked Aleris over. She noticed him eyeing her and stuck he tongue out at him like she was a three year old child again. Hiram chuckled t himself. He and Aleris had a strong relationship with one another, despite the whole difference of specie thing.

Tangoroa looked on, not sure what was going on. He was going to have to get Hiram to explain all of this to him.

xXx

Aleris sat on the Yautja examining table in the examination room. The four young Yautja scientists stood next to the table, clipboards ready.

Hiram and Tangoroa stood on either side of the automatic door. Hiram was there to make sure the young Yautjas didn't provoke her and cause her to kill them. Tangoroa was there because Eryx was on the war path and he had nothing better to do. Hiram understood fully and allowed him to stay as long as he agreed to help him if Aleris tried to kill anyone.

One of the Yautja walked up to Aleris. She looked at him with soft eyes, but muscles tense, ready to pounce.

He clicked something to her. The translator picked up on it and the British guy spoke.

"My name is Nex. I'm not going to hurt you"

Aleris raised an eyebrow at his comment. "And that is what Hitler said before he killed the Jews" She said sarcastically

The room fell silent and all of the Yautja stared at Aleris. It was apparent that they didn't get it. She buried her face in her hands and began ranting in Spanish.

The Yautja took notes about her behavior and change in dialect.

Nex set down his clipboard on the examining table. He gently grabbed Aleris' arm and pulled on it. He ran his index finger along her spine, feeling the separate vertebrae as she arched her back.

He moved around the table so he was in front of her, eye to eye. He brought one hand up slowly in hopes of not scaring her. She didn't move at all. Knowing he didn't frighten her, he grabbed her cheek and stretched it out slowly. Then he let it go, allowing it to snap back into place. Aleris tried to figure out what the point of that action was, but couldn't. Then, a devilish though came to her.

She reached out to the Yautja. She grabbed one of his tusks and extended it out fully, then let it go. It snapped back and hit his face, startling him a bit. He shook it off and began to laugh, causing Aleris to laugh along with him.

The other Yautja scientists wrote notes down. Hiram chuckled to himself. Aleris had the ability to befriend other Yautja and not cause them to kill her.

One of the Yautja scientists spoke up. "How are we supposed to study the Pyode Amedha's body?"

The translator picked it up and the British guy informed Aleris of their little debate. She didn't give the thought much thought.

"I think we have to take her clothes off" Another Yautja said

Aleris' eyes grew wide as she made the connection. She moved her body so she sat on her legs. She noticed Nex was looking at her.

"Touch me and I will eat you"

The room, again, fell silent as the translator picked up her threat. The other Yautja scientists became uneasy, shifting their weight from one leg to the other. They knew she would become dangerous when provoked. They weren't that stupid. They heard the stories from the scientists that tried to examine her prior. The last thing the wanted was to get their asses kicked by something smaller than they were. Nex was a little more stubborn.

He heard the stories as well, but he didn't think a female of any specie could beat a Yautja. So what if she a Pyode Amedha and Kainde Amedha hybrid. So what is she was considered a warrior within the clan. She was still just a she.

He reached out and grabbed arm gently. She immediately yanked her arm loose of his grip, but she chose not to move from the table. Nex shook off the obvious humiliation and grabbed her arm again, more harshly this time.

Aleris gave the Yautja the best death glare she could muster. It didn't have the desired effect as he tightened his grip on her arm. She had had enough with being a guinea pig for today.

With one split-second motion, she lunged out at Nex and clamped her teeth down on his throat. He reacted by trying to pull away, but all it did was pull Aleris off the table. Nex hit her with his fists, but he lost energy with each hit. That was when it hit him that he couldn't breathe.

Aleris stood on her feet as Nex slowly fell to his knees. Hiram and Tangoroa observed the unfolding situation. Tangoroa turned to Hiram.

"Should we help?"

"Not yet"

They watched on as Nex lost almost all of his strength. They knew his body was screaming for oxygen. If Aleris held on any longer, they would have to explain his death to Xerxes. That would be anything but easy.

Aleris knew she had proven her point to the Yautja. Sure, she did it in the most animal like way, but if that is what it took with these guys, she would not hesitate to do it again. She understood that they more brutal the show of dominance, the better. She had learned that from watching a few too many nature shows.

With the last bit of his strength, Nex hit Aleris in the ribs. There was little power behind it, but enough to knock some of the wind out of her.

That was it. If Aleris was going to show this Yautja who the more powerful being was, she was going to have to leave a wound. She was going have to give into the instincts that were screaming at her to rip his throat out.

With one strong jerk of her head, she ripped her teeth out of his throat and took half of it with her. Nex fell onto his hands, gasping for air. He held his neck tightly as his neon blood gushed over his hands and onto the floor.

The other scientists pushed each other out of the way as they ran out of the door. They didn't want to end up like him.

Hiram looked on, not in fear or disgust, but with inquisitiveness. He knew she would have characteristics of both Pyode and Kainde Amedha, but he didn't realize until now that she had inherited both of their instincts.

From his textbooks, Hiram knew about Kainde Amedha instincts. They had a hyper evolved form of instincts. Instead of just breathing, walking, the basics, they had memories past down. Since she was half Queen Kainde Amedha, there was no telling what she knew. There was a strong possibility that she could revert to a more Kainde Amedha self. She may take the anger against his kind and act upon it.

She turned her head to see them. Neon green blood slithered down her throat and dripped off her chin. Skin hung from her mouth, covered in blood. She swept her tongue around her mouth and caught the skin. Retrieving it, she ate the skin, chewing it slowly.

Hiram knew what this meant. She ate of Yautja flesh. If a Pyode Amedha ate Yautja flesh, then they would gain their longevity. Reports have been made of Pyode Amedha living hundreds of years like the Yautja. She would almost certainly gain this ability and live hundreds of years, here, with him.

Aleris quickly jumped up into the air and grabbed the ceiling, clinging to it. She reached to the ventilation cover. She ripped it off and threw it towards Tangoroa. He dodged it easily, but in that time that both warriors attention was diverted, she had scurried into the shaft and was gone.

Hiram and Tangoroa loosened when they realized that Aleris was no longer with them. Neither had fully grasped what had just happened. An Ooman eating a Yautja and running away was not a common sight. Nex stumbled around the room, still coughing up neon blood onto the floor.

Hiram and Tangoroa ran out of the room, leaving Nex alone. They were confident that another Yautja would come in and help him. They had bigger things to worry about now. Aleris was loose in the ship and probably remembering some memory that is causing her to be come angry at the Yautja. If they didn't find her quickly, she may find another Yautja and attack him.


	13. Chapter 7 C

xXx

Aleris crawled through the shafts franticly. Something inside of her was telling her to run, to find drones to help protect her. She knew the Yautja weren't going to hurt her, but she couldn't help it. She was fighting for control of her own mind and body so much that she failed to notice the vent in front of her cover until she had fallen out of it and was lying flat on her back.

Aleris laid there, more than a bit dazed. She breathed deeply, calming herself and the voices within her. When she had regained her senses, she sat up. Echoing throughout the empty halls were roars. Aleris stood up slowly and started to walk down the hallway towards the roars.

She came to an open door. She knew the roars were coming from that room. Slowly, she peered around the corner and saw Yautja.

There were probably at least sixty men in the room. In the middle of the crowd of men were two fighting each other. One of the guys fighting hit the other hard enough to send him flying across the room. He hit the wall and fell to the ground. The crowd cheered when the guy didn't move. The remaining Yautja hit his chest several times while turning around. The roars grew when another Yautja challenged the victorious one.

Aleris figured there was a lot of testosterone raging within this room, so she retreated back to the hallway.

The men here had a strange sense of honor. Aleris killed a dragon and now its head was mounted in her room. She hit the Yautja with silver dots and she was praised for it. You could really tell this place was run by men.

The roars again grew louder. Aleris guessed the one Yautja won again. She reached up to her chin and wiped off some of the drying green blood. Great. How the fuck was she going to explain this to Xerxes?

A Yautja walked out of the room slowly and stopped when he noticed Aleris. She looked at him, ready to run like hell. He looked her over, noticing who she was. Then he noticed the glowing green blood on her face and throat. He snorted with anger. Guessing that she had attacked a fellow Yautja, he grabbed her arm and yanked her into the room, almost dislocating her shoulder.

He pulled her towards the heart of the crowd. The roars within the room ceased as the men noticed Aleris. It was kind of hard to miss her. She was the only thing in that room that wasn't green. The Yautja that had a hold on her thrust her forward into a space in the middle of the room. She did a face plant in this crowd. Noticing it was dead silent within this room, she slowly got up, making sure one of the Yautja weren't going to come out and kill her.

She stood up straight and looked around her. All the men in this room were staring at her silently. In front of her, the victorious male from before was standing before her. He was bigger than most of the other Yautja. He wore nothing more than a loin cloth.

He clicked something to her and pointed at her. Aleris raised an eyebrow.

'I wonder if they know I don't know what the fuck they're saying…' She thought to herself

The victorious male knew she couldn't understand their language. Such a low specie could never understand a superior language such as their own. He walked up to her slowly. He had to show her why she was here and what they wanted her to do.

When he was close to her, he took his hand and wiped some of the blood off of her face. He showed his hand with the blood on it to her. That is when Aleris realized that they might know about her encounter just a little while ago. She knew she was in deep shit now.

She looked around the room, hoping to find someone that might be able to help her. She was met only by stares.

The mouse was now backed into the corner by lions.

She backed away from the large male in front of her. She was hoping she could make a quick get away. A sharp push from behind sent her back onto her face. She looked up at the larger male for help. He pounded on his chest and the crowd began to cheer again. This was not good. She was in really deep shit now.

Ever so slowly, she stood up. She didn't want to have a mass beat-up-Aleris thing happen. She looked down to the floor, trying not to intimidate the other male. He, on the other hand, had no intention of letting her get away without being beat. He was not about to let this Pyode Amedha stay on this ship with honor without proving themselves first.

With her attention diverted, he attacked. With one punch, he sent her flying back into the crowd of Yautja. They, in turn, grabbed her and threw her back into the ring. She landed, yet again, face down. Caught off guard, she grabbed her now bleeding nose. The male in front her waited for her to get up again. They may have a warped sense of honor and hunting, but they won't fight something that won't fight back.

Aleris noticed the floor was beginning to smoke from her blood. She guessed only she noticed it. Again, she stood up. Her nose didn't bleed for very long, but it stayed on her face, not dripping down to the neon green blood that still was on her neck.

The Yautja figured this fight was already won. He reached out for her, expecting her to dodge or flitch or even more, but she did not. When he grabbed her neck and squeezed, the crowd cheered.

He lifted her up off the floor, bringing her up to his face. They were eye to eye with little space between their faces. He growled softly to her, which made her smile. A plan just hit her and she knew it would work.

She reached up and wiped her blood off with her hand. The Yautja didn't know what the point of that was. He didn't know that this female Pyode Amedha was the hybrid him and all the other men had heard so much about. Well, they were about to find out the hard way.

She took her hand drenched blood and smeared it across the Yautjas face. It immediately began to smoke and eat away at his face. He let her fall to the floor and immediately began to claw at his face. The crowd hushed when his screams of pain filled the room and spilt out into the hallways. Aleris jumped up into the air and grabbed onto the ceiling. She wanted to see what was going to happen next.

Hiram and Tangoroa followed the screams into the room. They noticed the Yautja Warrior rolling around the floor in pain right off. His face was so badly burned they couldn't really see it anymore. The crowd of men stayed silent. By chance, Hiram looked up at the ceiling and saw Aleris, crotched down like an animal. There was something about that and the sight of the Yautja with his face being melted off made Hiram proud.

Aleris noticed Hiram with Tangoroa. She slowly crawled across the ceiling towards them. She wasn't exactly sure _how _she was doing this, but she wasn't going to question as she has seen all the cartoons. Once you think about it, it ends and you fall on your back or off a 500 foot cliff. That would be bad, seeing she would most likely fall onto a Yautja which would, in turn, kick her ass. Not that best route to go.

Hiram noticed she was coming towards them. That was good. He could take her from this room and put her somewhere safe until certain things could get cleared. One Yautja from the group was not about to let her go. She hurt a Yautja with honor and now she tried to escape by using unknown powers. Such dishonor. He picked up a metal object and hurled it towards her.

It hit Aleris in the back. A sharp edge caught her and left a cut at least five inches long. This startled Aleris badly. She quickly turned around and headed for a ventilation shaft on the opposite wall. Her blood dripped down onto the Yautja has she ran. The Yautja who received the blood droplets, started to scream and wreathe in pain. The other Yautja exited the room quickly.

Hiram couldn't let her leave again. He shouted out her name without the translator. It was rough and sounded more like a bark, but it made her stop and looked down at him. He raised his hand her and motioned her back down.

Aleris hesitated. The room was now empty and Hiram was motioning her down. Should she go down and face the consequences of her actions? Eh, what did she have to lose?

She let go of the ceiling and flipped in the air before landing on all fours. She faced Hiram and Tangoroa head on. Hiram ran up to her and placed his hands her shoulder; showing he had been very worried about her.

Aleris couldn't help but smiled. It was nice to finally have someone that cared about her. And more than just for a monthly check from the government for child support. He genuinely cared about her.

Hiram turned her around by her shoulders, carefully inspecting her body. A bleeding nose and a rather large cut on her back, but no serious injuries. She would just require some bandages and some love.

Tangoroa crept up to the two. He still didn't get a thing that was going on. Aleris smiled when the Young Warrior peeked over Hiram's shoulder. She finally had friends that liked her for her and not just because they had nothing better to do. Although, it was going to be hard, explaining the two badly injured Yautja to Xerxes. Oh yes, it was going to be none stop fun from here on out.


	14. Chapter 8 A

Sorry for the delay everyone! Life kind of took over and the story took a back seat, but herre is Chapter 8! ENJOY!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Aleris sat on her bed in her sleeping Quarters. She had been confined there ever since Xerxes had been informed about the injured Yautja. He could not deny the fact that Nex had it coming. He stupidly tried to force his will upon a creature that they knew nothing about. The honorable Yautja from the fight did not know who or what she was, but challenged her and lost. They both deserved what they got and now bore the scars of their mistakes. Aleris was just there until Xerxes could figure out what to do with her.

She filed her nails with a metal file that stole from the boiler room. She hadn't clipped them since the day before all hell broke loose, which was about 2 months ago. She usually kept them short, cutting them every three or four days. It was her step mother that forced her to keep them short. Now that they were long, she noticed that they were unusually think and had very sharp edges. That was very good for climbing, she found out, and attacking unsuspecting Yautja, i.e. an unguarded Tangoroa.

Hiram sat behind Aleris on her bed. He was carefully braiding her hair as his was. Usually this was done in a very painful ceremony that lasted several months, but he chose not to put her through anymore more pain. It was taking a very long time. He only had half of her head done and he hadn't even gotten to putting the metal clips on and glossing the hairs together.

Tangoroa sat on the floor in front of Aleris. They were talking. Just talking. About everything and about nothing. Mostly it was Aleris speaking about her life on Earth and what the Pyode Amedha did when not engaged in battle with the Yautja. Hiram would ask a scientific question about the anatomy of a Pyode Amedha or other specie and about personalities now and then.

Hiram was braiding her because he wanted her to feel like she was one of them. He wanted her to be accepted within the clan. In not too long, she would be given the mark of honor. She would be scarred with the warrior mark that belonged to his clan. She would be an honorable warrior. Hiram liked the thought of that. Maybe if he hung around her after she was marked, he would not be picked on so much. That would be a very good thing.

xXx

The cold depths of space called them. They went wherever it called from. Killing and keeping trophies as they went. They cared nothing about what they were killing as long as it fought back. That was they only way their twisted sense of honor could be made. The only way their thirst for the hunt could be met.

Xerxes was the one chosen to lead them. It was by chance that he was even allowed to participate in the hunt for honor. It was a miracle that the Kainde Amedha didn't see him before he killed them. Sure. His back was to a wall and he was so scared he could hardly move.

He was one of the original members of the clan. At that time, the clan was not that honorable. Most of the warriors died during the hunt due to lack of preparation. After a brutal attack from a rival clan, Xerxes was left with only a few other males. Over several hundred years, Xerxes had rebuilt the clan of warriors and honor.

Now he had quite the dilemma on his hands. Aleris was her name. She was an Ooman. But that was not the only thing that troubled him. She was considered a warrior within the clan. She killed several Kainde Amedha and protected the Yautja. She even had a trophy. He had no choice. He had to recognize her honor.

But that only created another problem. He very well couldn't give her the clans' mark of honor. If he did, he would face great opposition by fellow warriors. They may begin to feel inadequate if an Ooman female were given their mark and they may revolt. Perhaps he could give her their mark, but modify it to make it her own.

Their warrior mark was made up of two curved lines overlapping each other, forming a point on one side. For them, it symbolized ever striving to better ones self even after receiving the mark. In their written language, the mark meant "brave one".

Xerxes wanted to give Aleris the clans warrior scar, but couldn't do so without loosing respect. Then it hit him. He could add to the mark without changing it greatly. He could ass just one small slash on one side. That would change the meaning only slightly. Instead of having the mark mean "brave one", it would mean "Brave Queen".

Xerxes chuckled to himself. It would suit her well.

The intercom link within his room opened. It was silent except for some growling and a few dispersed laughs. A loud thud, some more growling and hysterical laughing; then all fell silent. A shaky voice came through the silence.

"Uh…Xerxes?" He said

Xerxes could tell it was Tangoroa right off. He was so young and was so new to everything. "What is it?"

"You said you wanted Aleris so you could give her the warrior scar?"

"Yes I did. When might you be bringing her to me?"

Tangoroa looked behind him. Aleris and Hiram were in the mist of a 'Duel to the Death'. They were wrestling on the ground. Aleris had a tight grip on his shoulders with her hands and her legs were wrapped around his waist. She was on his back so he couldn't get her.

More laughing and grunting. Hiram was not about to lose to her.

"Um…it may be a little while longer…"

"Why?"

"Well, Aleris and Hiram have decided to go at each other and see who can win in a one on one fight. It was rather funny though, how it all came about. Hiram called Aleris a weakling when he was braiding her hair and she didn't like it, so she attacked"

Xerxes nodded his head and chuckled to himself. He knew the kind of relationship Hiram and Aleris had. They would never hurt each other intentionally. They were siblings, battling it out on the plane of all things cookie.

Aleris grabbed onto one of Hiram's braids, pulling on it harshly. He barked out at her and tried to get a hold of her, but she kept slipping through his fingers. Tangoroa chuckled. For being so small, she was quite a vicious thing.

"Bring her when they are done" The channel closed.

Tangoroa looked back to Aleris and Hiram. Hiram had his arms around Aleris' body in a bear hug, keeping her body close to his and keeping her from attacking him again. She thrashed about violently, but Hiram held on tightly. Suddenly, he stopped cold and her body fell limp in his arms. He held onto her, not sure what just happened.

"Ok. I'm tired now" She said

Hiram picked her off the floor and laid her gently onto her bed, guiding her head to her pillow. She closed her eyes and drifted effortlessly to the realm of unconsciousness.

Hiram looked her over. Her body lay limp. She was vulnerable now. He had to stay here, with her, to make sure nothing happened to her. It would kill him if something happened to her.

He looked up to Tangoroa, who was standing, studying every moved he made.

"You can go" Hiram said. "Go to Eryx, if you wish"

Tangoroa laughed at Hiram. "You're kidding, right?" He walked over to a lone chair in the room and sat down. He rested his arms on the rests on either side and looked back to Hiram. "I'm going to stay here with you and Aleris"

Hiram cocked his head slightly. "Why do you want to stay here with us?"

Tangoroa rested his head on the back of the chair and sighed deeply. He didn't understand it himself, why he wanted to stay with Hiram and Aleris. He just had this feeling of security…or perhaps just the feeling of being wanted. They treated him with respect. "I just want to stick around for a little while longer, that's all"

Hiram nodded. He leaned up against the wall behind him and closed his eyes. As long as the room was still, he could rest.

xXx

Xerxes waited in his room, impatiently now. It had been several hours since he ended the call with Tangoroa. Something might have happened with the girl. But someone would have informed him if something did indeed happen. They could still be fighting. He really wished he knew what they were doing.

He was startle by the automatic door in his room opening suddenly. In walked Tangoroa. Xerxes stood quickly and greeted the young warrior with a hard pat on his shoulder.

"What took so long?" Xerxes asked happily

Tangoroa stepped to the side, allowing Hiram to walk up the leader. He carried, on his back, a sleepy Aleris. Her head rested on his shoulder, eyelids half open.

"What happened to her?" he barked out

The translator had picked up his question. Neither Tangoroa nor Hiram knew why she was so tired. Aleris decided to answer him, as only she could.

"It's ok. Just, for some, I'm really tired" She trailed off

Xerxes looked to Hiram for an explanation. Hiram had been dubbed her keeper while on the ship. He had to know everything about her and why it was.

"She's drained physically. Hasn't had a good rest for several weeks. A little rest for her will do us all much good" Hiram said

Xerxes understood this. If the female were cranky…well, let's just say, they would be lucky if she only destroyed the ship and crash landed it on a Kainde Amedha infested planet. That would be very bad indeed.

Hiram set Aleris down on her feet and slowly walked away from her, keeping his hands out in case she fell. She swayed slightly, but stayed up. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. So badly did she want to just fall over asleep right here, but she did not. There was a very good reason she was here. Good enough that she would have to be awake and alert for it. Or rather, it had better be something important. If not, she would go total Nagasaki on the ship and everyone on it.

She became alert, however slowly it was. Xerxes sat back down in his chair, waiting for Aleris to be ready. It was not long until she was fully alert and awake.

"Are you awake now?" Xerxes asked in an almost loving tone. Aleris smiled sweetly at his kindness and nodded. "Do you know why you are here?" He asked next. Aleris licked one of her canine teeth, thinking. She shook her head after not too long. Xerxes chuckled. She was a brave Pyode Amedha, and yet, there was something prismatic about her. Something that calmed everyone around her.

He motioned her to him. She was hesitant, but decided that her two friends were there, so she had nothing to worry about. She walked up to him, stopping right next to him. He slid a paper towards her. Looking at it, Aleris noticed several pictures drawn with alien writing under each.

Xerxes pointed to one of the pictures. It was two fluid slash marks, connecting and forming an arrow to the left. "This is a scar we give certain members of our clan which exhibit a certain level a courage during a ritual. The ritual is a fight against the Kainde Amedha. It means 'Brave one'"

Aleris nodded her head. "And you want to give me this scar?"

"I can't do that, but I can give you this one" He pointed to another picture

It was the same as the first picture, but in the open end of the lines, was a small slash mark. Aleris thought that was very strange. The marks were pretty much the same. There was probably some deep meaning behind them.

Xerxes spoke again. "The mark I would give you would mean 'Brave Queen'"

"Hmmm…" Aleris thought out loud. "Where would you put this scar?"

"On your face. Your cheek"

Aleris sat in a chair that was positioned just a few feet away from Xerxes. She looked at him, staring deep within his eyes. It was simple intimidation. If he were hiding some ulterior motive, she would know.

He knew what she was doing. How could he not? As she looked into his soul, he, in turn, looked into hers. He noticed something right off. His gaze was met by a cold, hard wall. He could not see her soul. He figured that it came from years of bad rearing by the Pyode Amedha. No Ooman could properly care for such delicate and rare specie.

Aleris smiled at Xerxes. She could feel him trying to penetrate her soul. Little did he know. Not only was it extremely unlikely that he could break the cold, thick walls around her, but if he could handle what lie behind them, that would be a feat in itself.

"Ok", Aleris said at last, "I'll let you do this"

Hiram sighed a breath of relief. He was worried that she wouldn't accept the mark Xerxes chose for her. Seeing she was not fully aware of their system of honor, she could have not accepted it and she would be in dishonor for the rest of her life. He couldn't live if that were to happen.

Aleris had figured this much. She could almost feel the tension ease immediately after accepting the mark. That just goes to show you that alien men take way too high of pride in things that really don't mean a whole lot.

Xerxes reached to something black on the table. Aleris watched the elder carefully as he picked it up and brought it up for Aleris to see. It looked like a silver pencil. Aleris gave Xerxes a skeptical look.

"It is a soldering tool. We normally use Kainde Amedha blood, but since you are half Kainde Amedha, we have to use another method" He explained

Xerxes brought up his other hand and grabbed Aleris' chin. He turned her head gently. The tool was ready and hot, wanting to burn anything it touched. Xerxes gently pressed it into her cheek. The flesh beneath it singed and a small plume of smoke rose from it. Three, small lines made up the mark. Xerxes was finished after not too long. On her cheek was now the wound of the mark Xerxes chose for her. It would heal and scar, leaving it there forever.

Aleris poked at it with her long, sharp claws. The skin was still tender and it sent sharp pains through her face. She winced, but quickly shook it off. Xerxes motioned her closer to him when she did this. She was hesitant, but did as she was asked. She brought her face closer to Xerxes. He grabbed the sides of her, turned it harshly to the side, and licked to the wound. He let go and Aleris jerked her head away from Xerxes, not exactly sure of what just happened.

"It's to make sure no serious infection sets" He assured

"Yeah…but did you have to lick my face?" She asked

"Yes, I did"

Aleris gave him a skeptical look, but shrugged it off. Of all the things that have happened thus far, that was not that bad. She stood up and shook her head from side to side. Xerxes also stood up in front of, towering over her respectfully. He set his hand on her shoulder and patted hit hard. It hurt Aleris, but she knew it was a good thing, so she wasn't bothered by it.

She turned her back to Xerxes and faced Hiram and Tangoroa. She smiled happily, knowing that the tension had ceased.

Hiram bowed his head to her. He knew he should to appease Xerxes. She was, after all, of a higher rank than he. Tangoroa also bowed his head to her. Not just because he was an equal to him now, but for another reason. He felt something towards her. Something beyond respect.

Xerxes shooed Aleris out of the room quickly. He, Hiram, and Tangoroa had some things to discuss, but would not divulged what about to her. She left the room and walked down the hallway. She had no real direction; she just felt the sudden and uncontrollable urge to walk.


	15. Chapter 8 B

xXx

Xerxes watched Aleris go down the hallway until the automatic door shut. He turned back to Hiram and Tangoroa.

"We will be landing on a planet to collect samples. Hiram, I'm putting you in charge of analyzing them in the labs. Tangoroa, I'm putting your on guard duty while the team is out on the planet. Ok?"

"Why are there going to be guards on the planet?" Tangoroa asked

"This planet was once infested with Kainde Amedha" Xerxes informed them

"Are there any Kainde Amedha left on the planet?" Hiram was just a little worried

"Our sensors don't show any life forms on the planet"

xXx

The dark, lonely hallways were starting to grow on her. No sounds except for the soft humming of the ships electrical machines working. It was calming for her. She couldn't explain it, she just felt at home here. Down a couple of hallways and quite a bit of day dreaming, Aleris realized something. She was completely and utterly lost.

She looked down all of the hallways, hoping she would remembered which one she had gone down, but they all looked the same and none had any marks or lights that distinguished them from the others. She decided she would just continue to walk the way she thought she was going. What harm could come from it?

Down one hallway and down another. She couldn't keep one hallway from another. They blended together to be as one.

Aleris stopped, unwilling to get anymore lost and sat down with her back against the wall and legs outstretched. She didn't know what to do. She looked up, trying to come up with some witty plan like she had done time and time before. Above her was a ventilation cover. She could go up it and find Hiram again, but that was probably a bad idea. Trouble could be waiting for her at the other end.

She would be safer if she just stayed here. But if she did that, than a Yautja could come by and start a fight for no reason. Hiram had explained to her earlier in the day that by her being human, it meant that the other Yautja on the ship would challenge her time and time again and that she would have to be prepared for it.

So that still left her with three choices: Stay here and be in danger of attack, walk around and be in even more danger, or escape into the shafts and just hope to hell that she doesn't fall into another pit fight.

That would be really bad.

Some heavy foot steps echoed down to Aleris. She knew they weren't that close, but she heard them like they were. She waited a small second before reacting; making sure it was not a friend. A Yautja walked down a perpendicular hallway and turned towards her. She could tell he was a warrior because he wore the mask that covered his face. He stopped short of seeing her sitting on the ground.

Smelling the air, he knew she was the Ooman everyone was talking about. There were stories circulating about her. That she was a Kainde Amedha and Pyode Amedha cross. She was supposed to be some great warrior that saved Yautja form another clan, but also attacked several from this clan. He had to inspect this threat closer.

He took slow steps towards her. Aleris saw this and stood up, also slowly. She didn't want to be caught off guard by some random Yautja that decided to challenge her. He stopped about ten feet from her, examining her.

'This couldn't be the thing that almost killed a Yautja' He though to himself

Aleris took a small step back. She could feel the Yautja sizing her up. This situation just went from really bad to very, very worse. She couldn't get into another fight. Xerxes could really punish her if she did. She already has attack four other Yautja, anymore would put her in a bad light.

The Yautja saw her take the small step back. He could smell her fear and could practically see her muscles tense up. She was afraid of him. This made him laugh. She was supposed to be some strong creature and she was afraid of him.

Upon closer inspection of her body, he noticed the warrior scar on her cheek. This angered him in a way he had never felt before. She was weak and small and yet she was still given the mark of a true warrior.

He felt it was his duty to make sure this Ooman was worthy enough to posses the scar or exterminate her in the process. He crouched down to the floor, posed for attack.

This was now unbelievably bad for Aleris. She tried to avoid a confrontation, but that had failed. She had no choice but to fight the Yautja.

Aleris relaxed her body. For some reason, she knew the best way to fight a Yautja in a hand to hand combat with minimal damage to herself. It was strange, this power of hers. Every time she had to fight a Yautja or felt threatened by one, she would flashback to a battle she had never been in or seen. She had strategies she never knew of already planned out.

The Yautja jetted like lighting towards Aleris. Just before he would have tackled her, she jumped into the air and attached to the ceiling. She watched him skid to a stop and shoot his head around, looking for his prey.

He saw her on the ceiling. How quant. She could even scale walls like a Kainde Amedha. At least she would be a formidable challenge.

He jogged towards her, wrist blade ready. When he got to her, he jumped up into the air, stabbing at the Ooman with his blade. She, of course, dodged his attacked, causing his blade to lodge itself into the metal ceiling.

Aleris crawled away from the attacking Yautja. She didn't want to fight him, but she was having a hard enough time controlling her body at the moment. It was running on instincts she didn't even know she had.

The Yautja dislodged his blade and darted his head to find the girl. He saw her, running from him. That made him laugh. She was no great warrior. He started after her lighting speed.

She skittered to a ventilation shaft. She couldn't explain it, but she knew she was safe there. She ripped the cover off like so many times before and jumped into it, disappearing into the darkness.

The Yautja skid to a stop under the shaft opening. He changed his view from one to another, searching for her, but she was gone. He would have to go else where to find the Ooman and eliminate her. He was doing this for the clan. They could not suffer such a dishonor.

xXx

The Yautja ship landed softly on the deserted planet. It shook the ground with a hard landing. An airlock door opened and a Yautja scientist walked off onto the planet, escorted by two Yautja guards, heavily armed.

The guards stopped short and put theirs backs together. The scientists walked out a ways from the guards and crouched down by a huge boulder. He took out a metal cylinder and started to collect some soil samples.

The Yautja guards watched the area carefully, but saw nothing. Nothing moved. But behind the ship lay what they were waiting for.

The landing ship shook the ground and woke something up from a long slumber. A lone Kainde Amedha slowly crawled out of a hole next to the ship. It hissed, not sure what had just happened. It slowly crawled up onto the ship, inspecting it.

It was startled when it felt a Queen. Its Queen was killed so very long ago. He was nothing without a Queen to please, but there was one here now. It now had a meaning for existence.

It started to search franticly for an opening within the ship. It could feel the Queen was scared. She was under attack. It screeched out into the dead of the dark.

The Guards tense up, ready to shoot anything that moved, but they saw nothing. They stayed ready for attack.

Two more aliens crawled out of the whole the first came out of. They looked around at their surroundings slowly. They also sensed the scared Queen within the metal fortress. The first alien chattered something to them. They quickly jumped up onto the ship and joined the searched for an opening.

A vent door opened and steam exited the ship. It caught the attention of the three aliens. They quickly ran for the vent before it close. They ran into it, single file. The last got into it just before the vent closed.

The three Yautja ran back onto the ship. They didn't feel safe on a planet that probably still had Kainde Amedha on it. They felt safer on the ship.

xXx

Aleris crawled through the vents quietly. She needed to find Hiram or Tangoroa to help her. They were Yautja. They would be able to reason with it. Hopefully.

She slowed to a stop in the vent. There were heavy footsteps beneath her. She stayed still and slowed her breathing, hoping they wouldn't hear her. They left. Good. She slowly began to crawl again. Aleris looked down a vent cover to see what was down there.

Nothing. The same metal floors and walls like everywhere else. Carefully now, she crawled over the cover. The last thing she wanted was to fall through into another one and find herself in another bad situation. Or rather, one worse than this one.

A spear shot through the vent cover right at Aleris. Before she could react, it pierced her skin and went straight through her before lodging itself into the ceiling above. Aleris screamed out in pain and it soon evolved into a deafening shriek. Her blood spilt onto the vent below her. She lost her grip and fell through the vent cover and flat onto the floor.

A bellowing laugh echoed past her. She looked up to the laughing figure. It was the Yautja from before, only this time, he did not have his mask on. He had been tracking her though vents and shot her down with a spear gun. Damn him.

He reached down to her. Carefully, he wrapped his fingers around her neck and pulled her off the floor. He brought her up to eye level. He glared at her. She was no warrior.

Aleris reached out to the Yautja. He didn't have a clue what she was doing. She grabbed onto one of his tusks and pulled towards her quickly. He yelled out in pain as green spilled down his face. Aleris took the time to jump up onto the ceiling and go back into the shaft. When he recovered, she was already down the shaft and beyond his reach.

Aleris did her best to crawl through the shafts with little sound. She held her wound with one hand, trying desperately to stop the bleeding and crawled along with the other. But not before long, she had to stop. The pain was becoming too severe to continue on. Gasping for breathe, she sat on her knees, trying to think of what to do next.

Within the silence she heard them. The voices of Kainde Amedha were calling out for her. The voices told her they were here to help her. Here to obey her every command. That was the first sign of relief she had had in some time.

'How in Hades did Kainde Amedha get on the ship?' She asked herself

She quickly dismissed the thought. It couldn't matter less _how _they got here, but the fact they were here was good enough for her. She called out for them breathlessly. She was in no shape to do much else.

The Kainde Amedha quickly came to her side. They saw she was wounded, badly. Quickly, they grabbed her and drug her away. They were taking her probably the safest place they could find. Their last queen had died this way. They weren't about to let this one die the same way. They needed to get her well again before the creatures attacked her again.

xXx


	16. Chapter 8 C

xXx

Xerxes stood at the helm of his ship. The Yautja around him typed away on the computers. His team recovered the soil samples just fine, but that didn't have anything to do with the current problem.

About an hour ago he had received a report of a Yautja attacking Aleris not long after he gave her the mark. She had disappeared into the ventilation shafts again after the fight. She hadn't shown since then and Xerxes had become increasingly worried.

Not for her safety, but for the well being of Hiram and Tangoroa. Both had been stressing over her safety since they got word of the fight and saw the hole from her blood. Xerxes needed to find her to make sure his me didn't worry themselves sick. But there was also another problem.

They also had scattered energy readings throughout the ship. Readings that would come onto the screen and leave just as quickly. Xerxes didn't like not knowing what was on his ship. To add to that, several holes had appeared in the security grid. Anything could come and attack them now.

"Have you found her yet?" Xerxes asked

"Not yet sir. We have found several more holes in the security grid though" A Yautja officer said

This was just great. More and more holes were showing up as time went on and they still hadn't found where Aleris was. He figured she was in one of the holes.

"Sir. We have figured out what the scattered energy readings are" Another Yautja officer said

"What are they?" Xerxes was weary in knowing

"They are Kainde Amedha energy signatures"

He really didn't want to hear that. That was a bigger problem than he needed. He looked back to Hiram and Tangoroa, who were both sitting by the door, with deep sadness on their faces.

"She'll be ok. The Kainde Amedha will not hurt her" Xerxes assure them

"That is not the problem" Tangoroa said

Xerxes looked at them longer. He knew that wasn't the problem. He was just trying to reassure them.

"What if they kill other Yautja? You'll have to kill them and her if she gets in the way" Hiram said

"I can make sure she doesn't get hurt in any way" Xerxes said strongly. He very well knew he couldn't promise that, but if it made them feel better, then he would lie to them.

The two Yautja nodded their heads at him. They got up slowly, still deeply sad and worried, and walked out of the bridge. Tangoroa broke off from Hiram almost immediately. He patted Hiram and the shoulder and reassured that Aleris would be returned to him, safe and sound. Hiram understood, but felt no better. Tangoroa, knowing he had done all he could, disappeared into one of the countless rooms on the ship.

Hiram continued down the hallways, walking slowly. He couldn't stop thinking about Aleris. He couldn't live if she were hurt or killed. He finally made it to his sleeping quarters. He walked into his room and sat on his bed, facing the wall.

All was quite on the Western Front.

A thud within the room walls startled Hiram. Quickly he looked around himself, but saw no one. Another loud thud filled the room. Hiram stood up quickly, ready to attack. A last thud followed by crashing and something fell through the shaft opening within the room. Everything settled and all was quite again.

It was Aleris. She had fallen through the vent cover…again.

Hiram was relieved, but that soon left when he realized that she wasn't getting up. He started to walk towards her, but he was caught off guard when the three Kainde Amedha jumped down from the shaft above and knocked him back. They circled around Aleris, ready to lay down their lives for their Queen.

Hiram could see that she was hurt. A wound on her torso, her shirt was missing around her wound, burnt off, and her blood had had time to dry on her skin. He wanted so badly to over to her, hold her and make her better, but he knew the Kainde Amedha Drones would not allow him to get any closer to her.

The Kainde Amedha swayed form side to side, watching the Yautja carefully. Their Queen had told them that they could not attack one of them unless they attacked first.

Aleris stood up shakily. She was still in much pain and clutched her stomach. It had begun to heal already and so it was a good pain.

Hiram called out to her. "Are you ok?" He knew she wasn't, but he wanted to know from her

"Yeah, I'm doing well. My new friends are helping me" she laughed to herself

"Where did the Kainde…your friends…come from?"

"They told me that the ship landing on their planet woke them up" Aleris set her hand on one of the Kainde Amedha's head and petted it gently. It hissed lovingly at the contact. "They felt me, when I was in trouble and they came and saved me. They are helping me heal"

Hiram remembered that fact. That Kainde Amedha can help heal each other faster than if they were on their own. She would probably be completely healed within two days time.

Hiram needed to get her to Xerxes without the Kainde Amedha shredding everyone on the ship.

The intercom in the room opened. "Hiram. We still cannot find Aleris" Xerxes said unhappily

"That is because she is in my sleeping quarters with me"

"She's there? With you! Bring her to me immediately!" The link closed

Hiram looked back to Aleris. She eyes were wide open. She had heard what Xerxes said.

"He doesn't sound too happy" She said calmly

"He's relieved your ok. Trust me. Now we have to get you to the bridge to see him" Hiram said happily. "But what about your friends?"

"I'm bringing them with me. Don't worry. They won't try and kill anyone. I've told them they can't hurt anyone except if they try and hurt me" Aleris said

"Fine by me"

Hiram headed for the door in his room. Aleris followed him, quickly latching onto his arm lovingly as they walked down the hallway. She was very happy to see him again. The three Kainde Amedha followed close by. They would guard their Queen and the Yautja that she was so fond of.

xXx

The automatic door to the bridge opened. Xerxes looked over his shoulder to see who was coming in. Tangoroa stood next to him, and also looked over his shoulder.

Hiram walked into the bridge, head high, feet strong. This surprised both of them. Just a little while before he could barely keep his head up. Now he was strong. He moved to the side and revealed Aleris. Tangoroa was hit by a rush of emotions he never knew he had.

He ran to her, hoping to give her a hug or just touch her. When he got close to her he was thrown back when her Kainde Amedha jumped out in between them, hissing and waving their tails threateningly. All the Yautja within the room jumped up and prepared for a fight. Xerxes turned completely around and barked at Hiram.

"What did you bring into my bridge?"

"Don't worry! They're safe! They won't hurt anyone that doesn't attack first" Aleris jumped in

Xerxes exhaled loudly. He didn't know what he was going to do with this girl. She was wreaking havoc and still staying alive. He didn't know whether to kill her or praise her.

Aleris relaxed only slightly. "I don't want you guys to hurt my friends" She said calmly

Xerxes looked at her, gazing over her body and wound and at the Kainde Amedha that surrounded her. He sighed and motioned his officers to be at ease. They reluctantly went back to work, but still tense, expecting an attack.

Xerxes looked back to Aleris. Her Kainde Amedha had eased as well, nuzzling her hands and legs lovingly, showing that she had some unspoken power over them. They would listen to her no matter what she asked.

"I'll make you a deal Aleris" Xerxes said

Aleris looked up at him, checking his eyes for an ulterior motive. She found none.

"Ok. What is it?"

Xerxes explained to her what had happened on her home planet since she had been gone.

In that time, they planet had been almost completely over run by Kainde Amedha. A group of people had tried to kill what they thought was the only Queen on the planet, but she had moved so their attack was in vain. They had used their most powerful weapon in their hand and the most devastating. They had a nuclear weapon to kill the Queen, but all it did was destroy miles of land and kill thousands of Oomans and other creatures in its wake.

This was not the only problem for the Yautja. There were two Queens on the planet. The one that Aleris met was sent to a facility in China soon after their encounter to keep her from reproducing more. Well, she escaped and now there are millions upon millions of Kainde Amedha in China. The other Queen was kept in the United States and she also escaped and reproduced rapidly. The world was almost completely Kainde Amedha.

A few pockets of people had hid out and survived, but they were decreasing in number. Now, Kainde Amedha were not use to being within good distance within each other. The Queens were usually on different planets, but there were two Queens on this one. A war was waging between the two of them. They wanted to other one dead so she could rule the whole planet. The Queen in the United States had moved from the United States to Europe with her drones to fight the other Queen head on.

This was Aleris' mission. Xerxes was sending her to the Planet and leaving her there with her Kainde Amedha. It was up to her to rid the entire planet of most of the Kainde Amedha. The Yautja would keep contact with her to make sure she fulfilled her mission. If she did, she would be highly honored within the clan and would have deserved the respect of all the Yautja. She would be higher in honor than Xerxes himself. If she failed, Xerxes would have to destroy the entire planet to make sure the infestation would not spread.

Hiram was worried that she would get harmed during the fight but Aleris reassured him that she would have her friends to protect her. Tangoroa also was worried about her, but knew she could do it. She was strong enough to do anything.

Xerxes placed a great deal of trust in Aleris. He had faith she would prevail. If she completed her mission and returned alive, he would be able to finally relax for the rest of his days.


	17. Chapter 9 A

Sorrry it took me so long to get Chapter 9 up. It's up and I have begun to work on Chapter 10 already. I should have it done within a few weeks, hopefully...

The thought of a sequal has crossed my mind once or twice...I don't know. I would need some input before I made a decision and started forming a plot...

* * *

Chapter 9

ki'cti-pa: Wrist Blade

* * *

Aleris stayed on the bridge with the other Yautja men, much to their dismay. She was leaned over one of the long control counters in between two working Yautja, looking intently out of the window.

In front of the ship was the mostly blue planet of Earth. It looked so surreal there, like a gentle dolphin swimming in a sea of uncertainty.

"It's so beautiful" Aleris said. She turned around to face her friends. "Isn't it?" She asked happily, not expecting an answer.

The three friends stood quiet. Xerxes, surrounded by Hiram and Tangoroa, all stood with their arms crossed.

Aleris smiled at them and turned back around. She knew they very well couldn't understand a word coming out of her mouth.

The Yautja officers had been trying to fix the holes in the security system for some time they fixed some of them, but in the process they had knocked out most of the translators.

"Do you think she is prepared for what is to come?" Tangoroa clicked generally

"Probably not. But she is strong. I believe she can do it" Xerxes clicked softly

They worried about her and now there was going to be a good chance that she would die. She appeared that she either didn't care about it or had already prepared herself for it.

Aleris ran from panel to panel and from Yautja to Yautja, annoying the hell out of each one as she went. She knew what was coming. She wasn't stupid. She was trying to relax so she could be better on the battle field.

The automatic door to the bridge opened and Eryx walked in. He hadn't shown his face since Aleris had beaten him down before. Now that she had her own warrior mark, he couldn't' challenge her without being shamed again.

Aleris looked to him as he joined the line of Yautja forming on the bridge. The other three Yautja nodded their heads to the still slightly honored Yautja.

"Eryx! " Aleris said happily

Eryx looked at her, but then turned to Hiram. "Did she just say my name?" He asked him

Hiram nodded to him. Eryx crossed his arms and absorbed the thought. His name was short and kind of plain when spoken in her tongue, but it had a kind of feel of nobility when spoken by Aleris. It must have been her accent.

"Sir! We are ready to land on Earth" A Yautja officer said

"I'll prep Aleris for the departure" Xerxes said sternly

He walked up to Aleris and grabbed her arm and gently tugged on it, telling her it was her time. She looked back to the Yautja that she had just got done annoying. He was happy she was going to leave. Anything more from her and he would get up and kill her. Aleris took one step away, but stopped, smiling devilishly. Xerxes knew she was up to no good, but he was not about to stop her.

She ran up to the Yautja that she had just gotten done pestering and wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed slightly. Then quickly let go and ran towards Xerxes. The peered over his shoulder and gave her a filthily look, but went back to work.

Xerxes walked down the many hallways it took to get to the airlock. Tangoroa also walked with him. He was going to wish Aleris off on her dangerous mission. Hiram walked behind the two other Yautja. He kind of had to go to the airlock. Aleris had jumped onto his back and demanding to be given something she called a "piggy back ride". He didn't know what it meant, but he decided just to go to the airlock anyway.

Once they arrived, Aleris quickly jumped off of Hiram's back and ran to a cage that was sitting next to the airlock. Her three Kainde Amedha friends were inside the cage. Aleris was told it was for safe keeping until they arrived at Earth and her friends told her that the Yautja did not hurt them any.

A Yautja officer came up to the cage. He was going to open the door and let the hissing Kainde Amedha out and let them reunite with Aleris. He hesitated though, knowing these creatures true power and their ability to kill Yautja quickly. He managed to open the cage though, and jumped back when the Kainde Amedha flew out to Aleris. They quickly began to nuzzle her and hiss at the contact of her.

Another Yautja walked up to her slowly. In his hands he held a curved piece of metal. Aleris looked at it and then to the Yautja. She had no idea what that was. The Yautja, noticing her confusion and probably thinking she a complete and utter idiot, motioned Tangoroa over to him. Tangoroa walked over to him and held out his arm. The Yautja pointed to the computer on Tangoroa's arm, pointed to the one in his hand, then pointed to Aleris.

"Oh…you mean I get my own cool wrist guard?" She said excitably

The Yautja rolled his eyes. She didn't have a clue what it was. Hiram decided to come over and try and explain it to her.

He told her that the computer they would attach to her left arm would not only monitor her health signals and be used as a communication link between her and the Yautja. On her right arm would be the extendable wrist blade. In case of close, hand-to-hand combat, she could expel a wrist blade so she could hack her prey down. Tangoroa showed her what it looked like using his own. She seemed most impressed.

He went on to explain that the computer and wrist blade would attach itself through her flesh so if anything attempted to remove it in anyway, she would die. She was a little confused by this, but Hiram said it was so she didn't have to suffer through painful experimentation and torture. She understood that completely.

The Yautja put it on her left arm gently and hooked the two sides together. They had to modify their wrist computers to suit her small arm and wrist. The Yautja flipped open the computer and typed in a few symbols and the computer itself stuck what felt like several sharp needles into her arm. Aleris was startled, but she shrugged it off.

Hiram pulled her aside and started to explain how to use the computer and wrist blade. They didn't have very much time, so a rushed explanation would have to do.

Xerxes looked her over. She was such a strong girl. She killed Kainde Amedha, almost killed a Yautja and survived another's attack, and she had created friendships with Yautja and Kainde Amedha. Now she was using Yautja technology. She was truly a unique being, a specie of her own. He hoped against all that he would return alive from her mission. She was much stronger than anyone here on the ship and she brought something into the room whenever she arrived. Xerxes liked that.

The ship shook slightly. The intercom within the room clicked open just long enough for a Yautja to inform everyone in the room that they had landed on Earth and that the Ooman should make hast to get off the ship since the area was heavily infested with Kainde Amedha and could easily invade the ship. The airlock door opened, telling Aleris that she had to leave now.

Xerxes had to give her a parting word before she left. At the very least it would make him feel better about sending her on a suicide mission.

"Aleris?" The voice was broken and was disrupted by much static

It was a bit scrambled, but Aleris could understand the British guy enough to know what he was saying.

"What is it Xerxes?" he said in a soft tone, showing she was not afraid, even now as she faced her fate

"I want you to know, that if you do die on this most dangerous mission…you shall forever be honored in our clan"

"Well, that's awful nice of you…" Aleris grabbed a small bag a Yautja handed her. "But that won't be necessary" She looked at him. He didn't know what she was getting at. "I _will_ be coming back" She finished with a smile

She turned her back to the Yautja and walked into the airlock. The three Kainde Amedha followed her closely. The doors inside the ship closed and the doors on the outside opened wide. Aleris stepped off the ship with her friends and the doors closed behind her. She gave one last glance to the Yautja looking at her through the doors. She smiled and waved at them as the ship began to move again.

She disappeared quickly, replaced by green plants off in the distance, then blue, then the darkness of space. Xerxes still stood silently. Hiram placed his hand on his shoulder, trying to snap him out of his trance.

"How long will we be in orbit?" Hiram clicked

"Until she succeeds or dies trying" He clicked back

He turned and headed back for the bridge. Tangoroa and Hiram traded looks of concernment, but both soon left for their separate destinations.


	18. Chapter 9 B

xXx

The Yautja ship rose into the air as if guided by unseen wings. It disappeared quickly into the sky. That left Aleris, nearly alone on her own planet. Her three Kainde Amedha encircled her, hissing defensively. They sensed the brooding millions of Kainde Amedha that had taken over this planet.

Aleris looked around her. The sky was blue on this bright, warm day. Grass and green trees. She wished the Yautja had told her where she was dropped of at or at least had given her a map.

She started to walk off in one direction. She figured she'd go the way the sun was starting to set. She could also sense the Kainde Amedha. Several millions, like the humming of a bees nest off in the distance. She walked up a hill and surveyed the landscape in front of her.

A small town was just ahead of her. A small deserted town. She didn't sense any Kainde Amedha in or by the small town. Her three friends didn't hiss at all. They just stood there, looking out along with her. Unsure of what they were doing.

Aleris walked down the small hill towards the small town. Her three Kainde Amedha followed close by her. They came upon a paved road that made its way straight to the town. She decided to take the road to the own. At the very least she could find some shelter and perhaps a clue of where they were at.

There was a certain eerie calm that hovered about the town. Some of the doors were swinging along with the wind that blew through. Aleris ran from door to door and to each window, hoping to find some sign of life, she came up empty.

There was blood, on one of the buildings. Aleris wiped her finger over it. It was dry. She figured the Kainde Amedha had already come through and had stolen the humans to be hosts. After a closer inspection of the building where the dried red blood was, she found holes burnt into the sides of the buildings.

A battle took place here. It was good that the humans here put up a little bit of a fight. Her race wasn't as pitiful as the Yautja believed. But it seemed like they still lost.

Aleris stood up and looked around her again. This town was so still and quiet. This really did bug her since for the past few months she had been on a Yautja ship fighting off those Yautja and Kainde Amedha. She could handle that. But silence?

A metal can skittered across the street Aleris and her friends were standing on. Aleris stood up slowly and cautiously walked over to the door the can came from. Carefully, she peeked around the corner into the dark room. Her Kainde Amedha stayed on high alert, ready to pounce and absolutely demolish whatever may hurt their Queen.

A figure covered by a cloaked jumped out of the doorway, about scaring Aleris out of her skin. She took a step back, but lost her footing and fell backwards. Her Kainde Amedha immediately attacked the cloaked figure. The figure flipped the cloak to the side, revealing a shiny gun. Without hesitating, the figure began to shoot at the Kainde Amedha.

They must have been a pretty lousy shot because not of the bullets hit their mark. One of the Kainde Amedha lunged out at the figure. It would have killed the figure if Aleris had not yelled out for it to stop.

The Kainde Amedha hit the ground and skid to stop just inches in front of the figure. It hissed, informing the figure that it still wanted to kill it, but would not if his Queen told him otherwise.

The figure stood still. Unsure of what just happened. He knew not to fire on the Alien that paused. Its brothers would attack and kill him for sure. Best wait and find out what was happening.

Aleris stood up and brushed the dust off her pants with her hands. She looked at the figure, they didn't move. Just her luck. Something with a gun. Just to shake things up: why didn't something attack her with a cupcake?

"It's ok" Aleris said calmly. The figure slowly turned its head to her. "They won't attack you if I tell them not to"

The figure looked this girl over. It baffled him how this girl could command the great killing bugs like she did. He looked closer at her. On her arms! They were the machines that the great hunters had on their arms. They came to the planet not long ago to try to kill the bugs. They lost and left. But perhaps, this was no ordinary girl. She had authority over the bugs and was accepted by the great hunters. She had to be someone of great importance.

He motioned Aleris inside of the building with his hand. She followed cautiously. She looked inside the room. It was a poorly lit bar. The figured motioned her in as they sat at an empty table. Aleris examined the dark room. Nobody else was in the room.

Aleris slowly walked around the corner and into the room. She was slow and cautious, but still walked strong. The figure could feel her presence grow as she came closer. She came up to the table and shot the figure a look. She did not want to be tricked and he knew it. The Kainde Amedha slowly came into the room when Aleris sat down across form the figure.

The figure shot the incoming bugs a look of discontent. Aleris saw this and raised her hand to her friends. Silently, she told them to wait inside and abandoned building nearby and to stay away from humans at all costs. They were reluctant, but left quickly enough.

Aleris looked back to the figure. The cloaked did well hiding their face. "What do you want?" She asked sternly

The figure brought up their hand and began to slowly tap their finger tips on the table.

Aleris looked at the fingers. Thick male fingers. She looked back up to the concealed face. This man was watching her, studying her. She exhaled slowly and leaned back in her chair. This conversation was going no where fast.

"Thirsty?" A male voice announced

Aleris looked over to the male sitting across form her. He had stopped tapping his fingers. She could feel him staring at her.

"Yeah" Aleris said calmly. She really didn't want to piss off a guy with a gun.

The man reached beneath the table and retrieved two bottled beverages. He handed one to Aleris and opened his. Aleris watched as he drank his drink without the cloak moving to show his face. She exhaled deeply again and opened her drink. Slowly, she drank it. She was thinking of how she was going to get into the Kainde Amedha infestation off of the planet.

The man didn't break his gaze from this girl. She was strange, and that was the only thing he could figure about her. She was calm, and that was amazing on the planet these days. Great black aliens were running around killing people. Not to mention the fact that she was the most attractive female to come by here that was under the age of 30. He needed to know what she was doing here.

A beeping sounded filled the dead silently room. Aleris lifted her arm up and looked at the computer on it. She flipped it opened and a red imaged came up in front her.

The image was of the planet Earth. Little white dots were sprinkled heavily over all the land. Words formed beneath the image of Earth. The man could not read what they said, but Aleris knew what they said.

Kainde Amedha Infestation.

Now that she knew the extent of the infestation, she could asses the situation better. She needed a plan of attack. The image disappeared and Aleris closed the metal flap.

She fell back into her chair, thinking deeply. The man watched her intently. He needed to break the silence between them. He needed to somehow connect with her in case the aliens came back. She showed that she could control them. That may prove invaluable in due time.

"What's your name?" He asked her

That was enough of him talking that Aleris could figure out this guy. His voice was strong, but not mature. He was probably around her age, no older than 17.

"My name is Aleris" She tilted her head slightly and looked deep into the darkness which concealed his face. "What about you, man-with-a-cloak-covering-his-face? What's your name?"

He was taken aback at her comment about his appearance. But then he realized that this was no ordinary girl. She deserved more respect than what he was giving her. He brought up his hand and with one smooth motion, removed the cloak from around his head.

That startled Aleris. She wasn't expecting him to remove the cloak, especially so quickly. But what it revealed was more startling than the action. She was expecting a horribly grotesque man underneath with twisted features, but no such thing came from behind the veil.

What came from the darkness, was a handsome young man. His hair was brown, cut short, and looked like it hadn't been combed, or even washed, in days. He had dark peach fuzz on his face, but it only made him look older than what he was. His eyes stood out from the dingy brown of his person. They were a rich green colour, dazzling his somewhat bleach look.

"My name is Alexander, but everyone calls me Xander"

Aleris took in a breathe when he spoke this time. His voice matched his face perfectly. He was so handsome and even looked like he was her own age. She was so use to seeing the twisted faces of the Yautja that she had all, but forgotten how her own kind looked.

Some rumbling came from the back room of the bar. Sounded like boxes falling. Xander turned his head quickly. A small, young girl emerged from behind him. She had her head, walking slowly towards the table. Xander put his hand on her head and rubbed it slightly and also messing up the dirty blonde hairs on her head.

"What is wrong Euphoria?" He asked the small girl

She pressed her body up against Xander's and buried her face in his cloak. He gently rubbed her blonde hair and continued to mess it up.

"Her name is Euphoria?" Aleris asked softly

Xander nodded his head. "I named her that after our mother died giving birth to her"

Xander then coached the girl away from him and got her to hold her head up so Aleris could see her face. Once the little girl noticed that Aleris was another girl, she immediately smiled and walked over to her. Euphoria reached for Aleris' hand and began to rub it once she got a hold of it.

Aleris looked to Xander for some help, as she did not know what this was supposed to mean.

"There isn't another girl here, so she happy to see you" Xander said

"Oh…" Aleris didn't know how to take this flood of emotion that came her way


	19. Chapter 9 C

xXx

Xander sat at a large round table, still in the poorly lit bar. To one side sat a small, elderly man. His long peppered hair hung down over his face. The deep wrinkles on his face shown through his hair, showing his old age. His eyes were much likes Xander's, a bright green, surrounded by puffy red skin and dirt.

On his other side was another much older man. Looking like he was middle aged, but wise nonetheless. His hair was slicked back and his eyes a deep brown colour. All three wore cloaks that covered their bodies and all three stared intently forward.

Aleris was on the other side of the room from them, sitting at a table with an older man, a young boy, and Euphoria. Each of them had cards in their hands with several more cards lying on the table. They were teaching Aleris how to play a card game and she was winning for some reason, which angered the boys.

"You think this girl is a God, Xander?" The middle aged man asked

"Maybe not a God, but she may walk with them. She can control the aliens and she has the technology of the great hunters!" Xander said

"That doesn't mean she is a God. It could be nothing more than coincidence. We would have to see her powers at work before we could make our final decision" The elderly man said intelligently

Aleris stood up and squealed. The other boys threw down their cards angrily. Yes, she won yet again. She walked around the table, trying not to gloat, and walked up to the round table where Xander and the other two older men sat.

"Is it ok if my friends come back here? They're lonely and can't stand to be apart from me for very long" She asked nicely

"You're friends?" The old man asked

"The aliens" Xander whispered to him. "Sure, it's ok. Just make sure they know what their place is here among us" Xander smiled at Aleris

She smiled back at him and ran out of the bar to find her friends. The middle aged man turned to Xander.

"She's bringing the aliens into our safe house?" He said angrily

"She has complete control over them. Don't worry about it, Mao"

Aleris returned again and walked back to the table and sat down with the boys and Euphoria again. They were determined not to lose to her again.

The Kainde Amedha stood outside the door to the bar. They were warned by their Queen not to make a scene and not hurt any of the other Pyode Amedha in there. One by one they slowly crawled into the dark bar.

One immediately crawled up one of the walls and took refuge in a dark corner. Another ran to Aleris' side. She gently placed a hand on its long shiny head and stroked it. The third jumped up onto the round table where Xander sat. It stood menacingly, surveying the bar. It hissed at the men at the table before jumping down off the table.

"I don't like this one bit" The middle aged man said

"It's ok. You can talk to her in a little bit. After her game" Xander smiled again

xXx

It was bright daylight now. Aleris was outside bright and early. She hadn't smelt the crisp, clean air in the morning with the dew heavy in the air for almost half a year. Her three Kainde Amedha followed close behind her. They weren't going to leave her if they could help it.

Xander followed some distance behind them. He was watching Aleris and the aliens she controlled. He watched the way she walked almost effortlessly and how her aliens watched her carefully. If she stumbled forward, they were there to make sure she didn't fall. They were on alert at all times.

They climbed up a small hill next to the road. Beyond the hill were the rolling hills of the country side. Fences closed off patches of land. Just barely in sight was a small opening in the ground that was surrounded by a strange grey solid. Aleris knew that this was the opening to the Kainde Amedha Hive.

Xander came up beside Aleris. He looked over the landscape with her.

"What are you looking at?" Xander asked

Aleris pointed out towards the Hive opening. "There. It's the opening to the Kainde Amedha Hive"

Xander looked at Aleris. "Kainde Amedha?" He asked

"Oh, um…the black aliens and my three friends. It's the Yautja name for them." Xander still had a confused look on his face. He really didn't have a clue what she was talking about. "The hunters have their own language and that is their name for the aliens and Yautja is the name for their kind" Aleris corrected

Xander shook his head. He understood now. She not only possessed some of the great hunters' technology, but she also knew their language. She had to be some great being if she had been able to mesh so much with them.

"How is it that you and the others have been able to hide from the Kainde Amedha? They should have taken you for implantation by now…"

"Well, there is a cellar that we hid in. They never found us there. But lately they haven't wanted us. They've just stayed there, by their home" Xander informed her

"That's because they're preparing for war" Aleris said as she turned her back and walked back to the small town

"War?" Xander asked surprised as he chased after her

xXx

Aleris and Xander were now back in the bar. Light shown in through the dingy windows and illuminated the rickety room. Xander sat at the round table with the other two men as he had the day before. The three men talked intently with one another. Aleris was busy teaching Euphoria how to cook in the back as well as the two boys she had played cards with. Aleris had sent her Kainde Amedha off, away from the bar so a fight would not break out.

"So, you're telling me that the aliens are preparing for War?" Mao man asked Xander

"That is what Aleris said"

"How do we know we can trust what she tells us? How do we know she isn't trying to kill us?" The elderly man asked angrily

"She's not trying to kill us!" Xander yelled out. "She's trying to save us!"

"I agree with Xander on this one Yuy" Mao said to the elderly man. "She has control of the aliens. Xander said she can speak the language of the great hunters"

"We would have to hear her speak of it" Chang said

A door swung open and out of it came Aleris and Euphoria. Euphoria carried one plate of food in while Aleris carried two. Euphoria gave her plate to Mao while Aleris gave hers to Xander and Chang.

"What is this?" Chang asked skeptically

"It's Chicken!" Euphoria said happily. "Aleris showed us how to make it taste really good" Euphoria looked up to Aleris, looking for her acceptance. Aleris nodded to her and Euphoria started to bounce slightly

"All I did was show them how to cook the chicken so it was tender and didn't waste any of it" Aleris said calmly

Chang and Xander began to eat the chicken, but Mao hesitated.

"What are you?" He asked bluntly

"Mao!" Xander yelled

"It's ok" Aleris said calmly. Xander looked at her, trying to figure her out, but she sat down across from the men and folded her arms in front her. She looked at each of the men in the eyes. "I'll answer any questions as long as you ask nicely"

"Do you know the language of the great hunters?" Mao asked nicely

"I know some words and phrases. They have translators that help a lot"

Euphoria jumped up onto Aleris' lap. She listened intently to the adults' conversation.

"How is it you are able to control the aliens?" Chang asked

Aleris sighed deeply. She knew this question would come up. She decided to dive right into the whole story. She explained to them about her roots. About the Yautja scientists that came to the Earth and was killed and about how the US government cloned her with Queen Kainde Amedha DNA. She also went on to explain how she met Hiram and how they helped each other get to his clan. The ship and other Yautja, she told in detail.

She then went on to tell them about her mission here on Earth. The fact that the future of the world rested on her ability to kill a carefully guarded Queen and take on another Queen was hard for the men to swallow.

Mao asked how she expected to kill a Queen Alien and live to fight the rest. Aleris said bluntly that she would walk into the Hive and kill her. The room fell silent until Aleris explain that the Queen in control of the Hive not a mile from the house was the daughter of the Queen whose DNA was used to make Aleris. She still recognized Aleris has her queen and Aleris was confident that she would let her enter her Hive. Chang asked how she could be so sure and she answered him saying that she had been keeping in contact with her mentally and that the Queen said she would.

Aleris stood up and Euphoria slide off her lap. Aleris was going to leave early the next day for the Hive.

"Are you sure you are ready for this?" Chang asked

Aleris nodded her head slightly. "As ready as I'll ever be. I have my ki'cti-pa with me, so I'm set" Aleris tapped her wrist blade with her other hand and smiled

She disappeared into the room in back and Euphoria followed close behind her. Xander and the other men quietly ate their food. They sat, trying to digest the information overload hat just happened.

xXx

It was early morning now. The sun had not yet awakened from its slumber and the moon still ruled the heavens. Aleris sat on the roof of the bar, surveying the landscape in front of her. She hadn't been able to sleep all night. She tried to collect her thoughts, tried desperately to make a plan.

Xander came up quietly behind her and set his hands on her shoulders. He knew she was tense.

"You're not ready for the assault, are you?" He asked quietly

"Not really" She returned

Xander slowly began to massage Aleris' sore muscles. His hands were strong and his expert hands found each knot and got rid of it quickly. After not too long, she felt much better.

"Better now?" He asked quietly again

"Yes" Aleris turned her head and smiled up at him. "Thank you"

Aleris stood up slowly and turned to face Xander. Face to face with the young man, she only came up to his chin. She may have been shorter than he, but he knew that the sheer courage and mental strength she possessed outweighed anything else he had. She was no ordinary female to him. She walked with the Gods, she spoke of the Gods as friends, and she controlled the great killers of all mankind. In all respect, Xander considered her a God of her own, sent here to end the extermination of man and lead them into a better future. She was their savior.

"I should be going now, before the sun rises" She said breathlessly

Xander took another step towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders again. He bent his head down and whispered I her ear. "Just don't die on me". She looked at him, unsure of what he meant by this gesture, but smiled.

"I'm not going to" She said

She turned her back to him and took a flying leap off the roof, landing across the street and on another roof. One more leap and she was out of site. Xander took a breath in. There she went. On her own and saving them all. He was going to have to convince Mao and Chang that she was a God, come to guide them. But he decided he would wait to see if she came back alive. He turned very slowly, not wanting to leave, and walked back to the bar.

xXx

There Aleris stood, face to face with the opening to the Kainde Amedha Hive. It looked like roots had formed around the hole and steam came out of it menacingly. Her three Kainde Amedha stood by her side. They could all sense the Kainde Amedha inside the Hive. They were restless and she knew they didn't want them there.

She shook it all off. She couldn't afford to hesitate now. She had to go forward into the depths of the Hive.

She jumped in and slid down a long tube until she hit the very bottom. Her Kainde Amedha were not far behind her. Once in the Hive, she found the millions of Kainde Amedha here. They coated the walls of the huge cavern liberally.

They ordered Aleris to walk down the main hallways to meet the Queen. Several came up behind Aleris and pushed her forward down the great hallway. Further and further down. At times she had to jump down steep tunnels. They had been walking for a good part of the day and Aleris was beginning to tire.

Finally, she had made it to the Birthing Chamber. In the middle was the Queen, a long tube came up of her and she laid the eggs of her kind. The Queen looked up. She growled loudly and the other Kainde Amedha left quickly. Aleris told her own to do the same. They needed to be alone. The Kainde Amedha left quickly.

Aleris took several more steps towards the great Queen. The Queen purred as her Queen, her Mother, came closer.

Aleris was now right in front of the Queen. The Queen bent her head down and rubbed it along Aleris' cheek. Oh how she craved the contact of her Mother once again. She was taken from them prematurely, but that didn't matter now. She was with her now, here for good.

Now was the time. Aleris extended the Wrist Blade from its sheath and with one clean slice, Aleris cut off the head of the Queen. Her head tumbled off to the side. Aleris had to jump backwards as to avoid being sliced by the flailing arms of the dieing Queen.

She ceased to move after some time and it just fell limp. Aleris went over and picked up the head of her Daughter that was almost as big as she was. Something inside of her ached horribly. Her heart sank in her chest. The memories of the Queen came to her now. She was her Mother and she betrayed the trust in her to kill her.

Kainde Amedha came into the Birthing Chamber by the hundreds. They stood silently and still. Their Queen was dead, killed by the one she trusted. But the original Queen was here, still alive. The Queen that brought them to this planet had now taken back the control of the Hive from the Daughter she gave birth to.

Finally, the Queen had regained her Throne.


	20. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

C'jit – Damn

It was either late at night or early in the morning and Xander was still awake along with Chang and Mao. He was still trying to convince the older men that she was more than just a girl, but they were hesitant to accept her being a God until they saw her kill all the bugs and set them free of the terror. Only then would they give her the respect that Xander was pushing for.

Their conversation was cut short by the distant hissing of the bugs. They were unsure of this. They hoped that Aleris had made it in alright and they prayed that she was able to take control of all of the bugs.

A sudden knock at the door startled the men. Xander was the only one to get up. He slowly opened the door, hoping not to find a bug just outside.

To his extreme surprise, Aleris was outside the door and looking happy.

"Aleris! You're not dead yet!" Xander said excitingly

"Of course I'm not dead yet!" Aleris said slightly offended

Xander glanced behind her and saw the shine off of hundreds of bugs. "Would you like to come in?" He really didn't like this situation

"Sure, but only for a second. I still have to prepare"

Aleris walked into the dim bar, carrying some very large, black object in her arm. She walked up to the table that the two older men sat at and smiled at them.

"What on earth is that?" Xander asked in astonishment

"Well, I killed the Queen no problem. This is her head. Now I'm prepared to finish this" Aleris said happily

"That is a head..?" Mao asked, mouth gapping open

"Yes, one of the more efficient ways to kill them. To cut there head off"

"Are you leaving now?" Xander asked

"Yes, I must fully connect with my drones and map out a battle plan before the battle or else I will most certainly fail. Live well, my friends"

Aleris started to walk out the door, but Xander grabbed her arm.

"Are you coming back? Back here?" He asked

"No, probably not. After I defeat the enemy Queen, I'm probably going to be picked up soon after by the Yautja. Why do you ask?"

"Will I be able to see you before you leave?"

"If you come to the battle field when the great battle is almost over and you find me; you can say whatever you need to before I leave"

Aleris placed her hand on Xander's shoulder and smiled. Then, without a word, she turned and left the bar. Xander ran to the door after her, to watch her go without saying what he felt. He would have to wait until much later to tell her; if she was still alive.

He watched her walk down the dark street. The shiny black bodies of the bugs surrounded her like a wave of water.

He looked back to the two older men. "So, we're just going to sit here tonight and tomorrow and hope she wins?" Mao asked

"Do we have to wait? Can't we just, you know, wait an hour and then follow her?" Chang asked quietly. Xander and Mao both looked at Chang. He looked at both with confusion. "What?"

"You actually want to go and watch her fight this battle for us?" Mao asked him skeptically

"No, I want to go and make sure she doesn't die and leave us with a bunch of angry bugs"

"Ok, I like that idea" Xander chimed in

"Then it's agreed. We followed at light" Mao concluded

xXx

It was almost daybreak and the air unusually calm. Aleris sat at the top of a grassy knoll, just sitting there. She held the severed Queen Head next to her body trying not to think of her impending doom, but the light was slowly starting to fill the sky, so it became harder with each passing moment.

The countless Kainde Amedha could sense her uneasiness and remained quiet.

Xander and the two older men knew they were close to Aleris. The bugs had condensed into a single teeming mass. The men walked quietly along the edge of the horde.

The Kainde Amedha seemed uninterested in the three meat people. Their Queen was stressed and they knew something big was coming. They opposing Queen was coming closer, and they knew how well Queens did NOT get along with one another.

They knew that when two met, one would defiantly die.

The sun was almost completely up now and the darkness of the opposing Kainde Amedha was starting to become very visible, but so far, it appeared to be only drone Kainde Amedha. So far, there was no big threat brewing on the hill not too far away.

She relaxed back and watched the opposing Kainde Amedha numbers starting to grow. She then noticed that one of her own Kainde Amedha drones had walked up next to her.

It hissed quietly to her. Aleris looked over her shoulder and saw the three men coming towards her. She sat straight ahead and exhaled loudly.

"How dare they follow me to such a dangerous arena!" She hollered at the Kainde Amedha drone next to her. It nodded to her and joined the ranks of its brethren.

Aleris stood up, signaling to the Kainde Amedha that it was almost time.

The three men came up behind Aleris, but said nothing. Xander was the only one of them brave enough to disturb her. He gently tapped on her shoulder.

"It is far too dangerous for you to be here" She didn't turn her head to speak to him

"We just wanted to see you in action" He said softly

"Well, if you get killed, it's not my problem"

"We're well aware of that my dear" Chang blurted out

Aleris looked over her shoulder to the much older man. "You men must have a death wish"

"Yes, we do. But we are here to support you in defending our kind" Mao voiced in such Mao fashion

"And if I lose?" Aleris was being her pessimistic self again

"Then we will still honor your struggle to save our kind and our world" Mao smiled so sweetly to Aleris

She hated this. These men actually believed in her and would love and honor her even if she died. Although that was sounding awfully fine right about now.

Aleris looked back over the ridge. The other Queen had come over the ridge, and was now standing tall. This was it. Aleris brought her arms, signaling to the drones to make a line on either side of her. They did so immediately, stretching far on both sides.

"We are about to witness history, men" Chang announced

Aleris wanted to get the upper hand quickly, so she told her drones to charge ahead towards the enemy Queen. Hopefully if Aleris had caught the Queen off guard, it would give her a head start and she could finish this quickly.

The Queen's roar echoed towards Aleris and the men.

-C'jit! She was ready after all-

Her drones started towards Aleris'. They soon met and they began to lash out at each other with teeth and claws. Aleris beckoned for her Praetorians to come to her. They walked up behind Aleris, waiting for her commands.

The three men were taken a back by the much larger aliens that now stood in front of them. The men had never seen these aliens before. These great bugs were not only much taller, but their heads were shaped like the Queens' head, long and flattened. They noted that they appeared especially fierce.

Aleris crawled up the back of one of the praetorians, placing most of her weight on its shoulder and kept her bag close to her. She placed the Queen's head next to her body for a shield and ordered one praetorian to stay behind and watch the men. It roared loudly in protest, but did what its Queen ordered of it.

"Do not worry, men. I will not fail our kind" Aleris announced nobly

The group of praetorians charged away from the men. Xander watched Aleris go towards the chaos. He didn't like it, but he sure wasn't going to go into a large group of bugs.

As the praetorians charged forward, Aleris slide back behind the large head of hers. The praetorians were not going to stop and she didn't want to loose her head by accident.

The faint sound of the fighting drones now grew louder. Claws making contact with flesh and ripping it apart. The shriek from a dying Kainde Amedha. Aleris knew she had to hang on for the bumpy ride to come. She griped her fingers around the creature's back spines and rested her head on its back. She hoped that the long, flattened head of the creature would keep her safe from harm.

The praetorians hit the mass of drones, but it did not stop them. The creatures just put their heads down and charged through the aliens. The drones bounced off the head of the praetorians. A few opposing praetorians ran down the hill towards the hill from their Queen. Some of the other praetorians peeled off the line, running head long into the enemies. Aleris' kept straight, right for the Queen.

Aleris made it through the mass of dead and still fighting drones. The small drones were no match for her alien steed. It ran steadily up the hill, alone now since the other praetorians had branched off to keep the enemy ones at bay.

It made up the hill, no problems. The Enemy Queen was just ahead of them with her back to them. Perfect for a surprise. Her steed ran for the Queen, but did not make it so far. The Queen turned quickly, allowing her tail to knock the praetorian back, nearly landing on Aleris.

She was able to roll out of the way before her steed landed. The Queen gave a mighty roar, telling Aleris that she was no match for a pure blood Queen. Aleris looked to her praetorian. It was standing now, prepared to do his Queen's bidding. With a simply hand movement, Aleris sent her steed to attack the Queen.

It jumped onto the Queen's back and began to viciously claw at her back. The Queen turned her attention to the small praetorian. She tried to strike at it, but only succeeded in driving her tail through herself. With each strike, she screamed. Her blood poured onto the grass, burning it immediately. The Queen spun in circles, hoping to knock the creature off her back, but the praetorian drove its claws into her hilt, causing her even more pain.

Aleris set her Queen shield down and started to rummage through her bag of gadgets that the Yautja gave her. She quickly rummaged through it. She pulled out a retractable spear, a net gun, an energy sifter, and a disk.

She looked at the disk. A small button in the middle of it. She, of course, pressed it, releasing finger like projections from it. She ran her finger lightly across one of the fingers. It cut her easily. She looked back to the Queen.

The Queen threw the praetorian off her back, and before it could get up, drove her spiked tail through its chest. It screamed loudly in pain, then ceased to move. The Queen was obviously proud with herself. She turned back to the small Queen. With a mighty battle roar, she announced to Aleris that she was going to kill her just like she killed the other one.

Aleris stood up and studied the Queen for a moment. The other Queen was swaying slightly in place. Her acid blood was pouring from her and her breathing was labored. There was no way she could avoid a long range attack.

Aleris hoped anyway.

Aleris threw the disk at the enemy Queen. She saw it of course and tried to attack it by stabbing it with her tail. Bad move. The disk cut her tail in two until it sliced one half off and continued past her. She screamed again as she retracted her bleeding tail. The disk came back at Aleris. She held out her hand to catch it but she missed it and one of the sharp fingers sliced into her palm.

She turned her palm over and back again, looking at her blood pour over the finger of the disk. It sizzled and smoked. She pulled the disk away from her hand while the finger fell out the other side.

The Queen roared again. Now she was angry. Her acid blood was spilling into a pool on the ground. Aleris decided to try one more time. She flicked her wrist and sent the disk flying again at the Queen. The Queen charged at Aleris. The disk flew past her head, completely missing her.

Aleris took a feeble step backwards. This was it. She was dead. Aleris looked past the Furious Queen. The disk she had just thrown was now heading back to her. The Queen lunged for Aleris. Aleris stood there, strong and unmoving. She watched without emotion as the disk tore through the enemy Queen neck, leaving a trail of acid blood behind it.

The disk came to Aleris, and she caught it with one hand. The Queen's body fell against the hard ground. Without missing a beat, Aleris too fell to the ground. She was exhausted. She had been running on pure adrenalin for the whole fight and now it had started to take its toll on her small body. She laid back onto the ground and shut her eyes.

She didn't know how long she was asleep, but she was forcibly woken up some time later. Everything was blurry at first, but things then cleared and she saw Hiram kneeling over her. He had his hand behind her neck, keeping it straight.

"How do you feel?" He clicked to her

Oh, she had forgotten what his little translated voice sounded like. She smiled to him.

"I could use some chocolate" She chuckled to herself. She knew he wouldn't get it, but she did

Hiram carefully picked her up into his arms and had started to walk towards their ship, but Xander stopped him.

"Hey! Wait!" he yelled out

Hiram only turned his head in anger. How dare he stop him, a superior specie.

"How is she?" Mao asked out of breathe

Hiram turned so Aleris could see the human men. They were relieved to see that she was still alive.

"Are you leaving now?" Chang asked

"Yes, I am" The men were immediately saddened by this fact and she saw this. "But do not fear, my friends. I will return some day in the future"

"But Aleris," Xander ran up to her and put his face close to hers, "You are our savior. Stay here with us and rebuild the world. We can shape it to your desires" Xander pleaded with her

"My dear Alexander. I will never be far from you, nor will I be gone forever," Aleris kissed him deeply for a brief moment," I have given you something so you will still be here when I return"

The predator turned away from the men and walked onto the ship. The three men watched as the remaining predators soon followed suit and the ship took off, going back into space. They were alone, now without their savior. Xander looked back to the large pile of dead bugs. Billions of them, all dead. It was now up to them. It was up to them, the remaining humans, to rebuild the planet. If they were lucky, there were more people out there, still alive.

It was their time now. Their time to make the world a better place, going off of past knowledge of good and bad. They could eliminate all of the crime and drugs and poverty from society. They could make Earth into whatever image they wanted it to be. They can train society to do the same and to avoid going back to the way they once were, before the bugs.

This was their Day of Realization.


	21. Epilogue

Cass: I hope you guys like the ending. It's finally over! I might start typing up the sequal or I may just leave the intro up. I'm not sure yet

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Epilogue

As soon as Hiram and the other guards had walked back onto the ship, it started to take off. He looked down to Aleris. She had passed out again in his arms. He quickly took her to the medical unit. Carefully, he laid her out on one of the beds and covered her with several thick blankets. He moved some of her rebel strands of hair out of her face and just looked at her. He never thought that she would succeed in her task _and_ come back alive.

The automatic door opened to reveal Xerxes and Tangoroa. They walked in slowly, not sure of what to expect.

"She's not hurt that badly. She just needs some rest" Hiram clicked

"That's wonderful news" Tangoroa said cheerfully

xXx

Her eyes fluttered opened. Aleris woke up in a rather strange place. Cold silver walls, strange jars of things on the walls. She sprang out of bed. She was in the medical unit of the Yautja ship. She did not like the medical unit. She quickly looked around. No one was there. Perfect. She hopped out of bed and ran to the automatic door. It opened up and she was gone.

xXx

The bridge was unusually noisy with chatter from the Yautja officers. They all knew _she_ was back. The hybrid had done her task and now was the most honorable of them all. She killed two queens, countless millions of drones, and there were still those Yautja with permanent scars. Most of them were angry that she was back on the ship, thinking she was gone forever.

Xerxes stood in the middle of the bridge, waiting for word back from Aleris. Hiram and Tangoroa stood on either side of him, only because they needed to get out of the medical unit and had nothing better to do.

"Do you think she'll be alright alone with some strangers? She might hurt them" Tangoroa asked Xerxes

"Tangoroa, that's how we'll know if she's healed yet!" Xerxes chuckled

Tangoroa didn't get it at first, but Hiram did. He chuckled along with Xerxes.

"If she doesn't kill them, then she's not fully healed yet" Hiram chuckled to himself

"Sir!" A Yautja Warrior stopped in front of Xerxes

"What is it?"

"She's awake now" His voice was shaking

Xerxes looked at the warrior. He seemed unusually tense.

"What is it? Did she kill someone already?" Xerxes was so calm

"Uh…no sir" He did not see the relevance of any of these things

"That will be all"

The messenger hesitated then walked away quickly. Hiram leaned closer to Xerxes.

"Word spreads quickly"

"Well, she was already feared before her mission. Now, nothing will stop her"

"What will she do now that she is more honorable than you sir"

"Replace me"

Hiram shot Xerxes a look, but one was not returned. He would have to wait to have an explanation. Aleris was up and he wanted to see her. Tangoroa also wanted to see her. They both were worried sick about her while she was gone.

"Let's go see how she's doing" Xerxes commanded

The two lesser Yautja did not argue with this.

xXx

Aleris was sitting up on the large examining table, but she leaned back onto the wall. She was still weak from her battle. Two Yautja came up to her, each holding a Queen Kainde Amedha skull. She ordered them to set them down on the table next to her. The two skulls took up most of the table. The automatic door opened and the three Yautja came in. Aleris was overjoyed to see Xerxes, Hiram, and Tangoroa. Xerxes quickly ordered the other two Yautja out of the room.

"How are you feeling, Aleris?" Xerxes asked as he approached her

"I'm well, but unhappy that those stupid Yautja made me come back here! I have a question for you. Where are my friends?"

"Oh," Xerxes paused, "They are in a containment cell several floors down"

"Well, they don't like being confined. You should let them out" Aleris sounded sincere

"They are Kainde Amedha and can kill a Yautja easily" Xerxes pushed

"Yes, but _I_ am their Queen and they listen to _me_"

Xerxes sighed deeply. "Fine, I will order their release once we're through here"

"Thank you, Xerxes" Aleris smiled at him. "Oh!" She remembered something she had to do. "Xerxes, I wanted to give you something"

Xerxes looked at her. He wasn't sure what she wanted to give him, but it was probably something pretty stupid. He would just take it to make her feel better.

"Xerxes, I want you to have one of the skulls behind you" She pointed behind him

He turned around and surveyed the table. All that was on it were the two, massive Queen Kainde Amedha skulls.

"You want to give me one of your prized skulls?" Xerxes was so very surprised by this

"Of course. You were one of the few Yautja here that not only believed I me, but gave me a fighting chance. And from what I've heard, you helped build this clan up. You deserve one. That and I really don't need _two_ of them"

Xerxes reached around Aleris' neck and forcibly knocked his forehead with hers. He turned from her as she rubbed her throbbing head. He purred happily as he looked the two skulls over intently.

xXx

Several days passed without much notice from the crew. Things had seemed to settle down for once in some time for the male Yautja aboard the ship. Except for the scarce sighting of a Kainde Amedha scurrying about the ceilings and vents, there were no unusual occurrences.

Tangoroa and Hiram had ever left Aleris' side once she left the Medical Unit. Tangoroa was absolutely enthralled in her narration of how she rid an entire planet of Kainde Amedha. She made sure to use as many colorful words as possible as to make Tangoroa happy. Hiram was happy just checking her wounds and noting her physical and mental progress after the battle. He said he was going to put a report together and talk it over with other scientists.

They followed her everywhere except to her sleeping quarters at night. They entrusted her to the three Kainde Amedha that they had picked up on a deserted planet. They stayed in her room during the day and night, but would leave to check things out for themselves. There were always at least two in Aleris' room not matter what. They didn't want their Queen ever without assistance from the killers among her.

Xerxes deemed her worthy enough to be awarded four silvers dots around her warrior scar. Aleris figured this was the greatest honor she could receive. Seeing that Xerxes had three silver dots around his scar and Eryx only had two. Xerxes explained to her that once he gave her the silver marks, that the other Yautja men might feel threatened and attack her if given a chance. She clearly understood this and said that if it bothered him too much, she would direct one of her drone Kainde Amedha to be at her side at all times. Xerxes, though wary, agreed.

Things progressed quickly for Aleris the next few days. She was awarded her four silver dots for honor. Soon after that, Xerxes asked her to take over as Leader of the ship. At first, Aleris declined because she thought he was a swell Leader and should go on doing what he's been doing. He only brought up that his age was going to make it harder for him to continue the stressful job of Leader.

He was almost 300 years old and knew that he was not going to last much longer. Maybe by passing it off onto Aleris, it could make their clan fiercer. She was a female, Pyode Amedha and Kainde Amedha, had eaten Yautja flesh, and honorable beyond honorable. She may have been small in stature, but she exercised the ability to communicate and manipulate Kainde Amedha. Xerxes was confident in her, but she doubted her ability to lead a race of men who were so used to having another male lead them. After some persistence though, Aleris agreed.

Hiram and Tangoroa were both overjoyed that Aleris agreed to take the position of Leader in their Clan. Hiram knew Aleris from the very beginning. She helped him without any knowledge of who he was or what e was and was able to protect him and herself from Kainde Amedha long enough for Xerxes to help them. She was a born leader and a born survivor. He knew that with she could run this clan with stern authority but still be loving about it.

When the Clan was informed of the decision to allow Aleris to lead their Clan, many of Yautja were outraged by this, but they could not deny the fact that she was the best choice for the job. She _did_ kill _millions_ of Kainde Amedha drones and _two_ Queens. They weren't going to like it, but they certainly weren't going to stand up to her with her Kainde Amedha traits and her three Kainde Amedha drones by her side. They figured they'd let her run things for awhile and as soon as she messed up, they'd kill her.

As she stood there on the bridge as the new Leader, she felt empowered. Tangoroa was on her right and Eryx was on her left. Hiram was with Xerxes, standing behind her. She gave the order and the ship started off towards the inner depths of space. There destination was unknown to Aleris, but she would soon find out what it was and why the men were so eager to get there. Next stop: The Yautja Home Planet.

**_The End_**

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I would like to thank Andrew McCall for helping me so much. He has been there helping me with this fic for some time now!

He has been a beta reader and a person to run ideas past before writing.

Back in February 2005, we sat next to each other in AP English and we had been talking to one another for a couple weeks at that point. We had just seen AVP a few days prior and were talking about it a lot. I came up with a quick little idea and he built on it and before we knew it, we had an excellent story idea. He helped me start writing it and pushed me to get it done.

I owe a lot to him. **THANKS ANDREW**!


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